Unmei Force: Inherited Wills
by Xovercreator
Summary: (Volume 1 Finale) With all of the X-Stones gathered, the path to the last trials lies ahead before them, within a island floating in space, hiding power beyond imagination. Will the Unmei Force be able to conquer all of the trials, and attain the answer that most of them have sought for? Or will the trials prove too much for them?
1. Prologue

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Prologue: The Passage of Eternity

* * *

_In the GFS Ryujin..._

Richard was preparing himself, as he was slowly adjusting his own magician robes, as well as placing the silver gauntlets on, while he had the complete X-Stone placed on the table in front of him. While he was gearing himself up, he was left pondering about how the situation has turned into what it was now.

"All this world-jumping... All of it..." Richard muttered to himself. "It all comes to this, a final trial to acquire what lies within the lands that this stone holds as key to... I've spent so long in those worlds, melding with the natural world around me... Only once, did I break my own routine of masquerading our identities... And that was before the heroes..."

Richard then sighed, before he then clicked his gauntlets on, finishing up on his gearing-up. "It doesn't matter though. Once we get there, and succeed in the trials that lie in wait for us... Everything will be worth it. Perhaps Gensokyo is doomed regardless... Perhaps I'm chasing a vain goal..." He continued, before he then clenched his fists. "But I refuse to idly stand by and do nothing, especially with all it took to get this far. I have put more than just time and effort into this quest, and I have gained more than just stones. Power for my friends... Future allies... Knowledge of the multiverse around us... They'll all only make the aftermath of all of this much more comforting for all of us."

Suddenly, Richard's communicator rang with a shrill ring-tone, before he then pressed it on. "Report." He simply stated.

"Commander, we are in sight of the destination located." The executive officer of the base responded back. "It seems to be quite small, only a large space-bound island in the middle of open space. But we cannot deny that the power reading emanating from it is far beyond what your normal scanners can take. We doubt even the exponential-power scanners could even be able to properly scan the power within. I guess that all that I could say, is that if we're looking for raw power, this is a real jackpot."

"I understand. But we have other goals on the island. Prepare a transport ship, and a small escort force to protect it, lest any unwelcome visitors try to intrude in our affairs." Richard responded back.

"Your wish is my command." The XO humbly responded back, before Richard turned it off.

Richard then walked over to the weapon-stand, where both of his blades were laid, as they have been maintained after all the battles down at the previous world, picking them up, and sheathing them behind his back, before heading out.

* * *

_Inside the hangar of the space fortress..._

Richard went out to the hangar, as the transport spaceship was already in place at one of the runways, while the rest of the group were there, including Erika, who was no longer a simple hologram, as she seemed to be here in proper flesh and blood. The other person of interest, was Flora, who was quite curious about all of the various youkai races moving along, and acting like a modern army, which turned her views of the fantasy creatures on its head.

"Oh my... It has only been around a week since I have been placed in this... fortress of yours, and I am still amazed at what I am seeing." Flora remarked. "It seems to look all unnatural, yet I can still sense the flow of natural energy within each being, and that there is very little chaotic darkness in this area. I do wonder how you are able to lead such a astonishing army, at such a young age."

"I'm older than I look, Flora. Let's just say that my rank as a Lieutenant Colonel, a modern equivalent to a battalion commander, is earned through blood, sweat, tears, and tactics. You'll need a long, long time, to get used to all of this unfamiliar technology, I'm afraid. If it comforts you, Elma and Ieyasu had the same problems before." Richard responded back with a smirk, before turning to Erika. "I take it that the heads of technology managed to get the job done? How does it feel to be back in the real world, in flesh and blood, although you're still sort of digital data as a Digimon?"

"It almost feels the same as back when I was an actual person." Erika answered back, examining her own body. "However, there is still that feeling that I can't simply describe or properly feel, that flows along my body. Perhaps that the digital part of my own body spreading itself and slowly melding with my actual form?"

"...So, you've called us all here." Fox stated, as he glances over the entire group briefly. "And you actually called ALL of us here, not a single active member left behind. You must be quite concerned for what we're going to face down there?"

"Not that I'm expecting heavy opposition. A smaller squad of us could still handle it, so all of us would be an overkill in the standard case, even with our findings." Richard responded back. "No, the reason I need you all here, is because I have a feeling that these trials we're about to face... They're going to need the abilities and talents of every single one of us."

"What...?" Reimu asked back. "How can you be so sure?"

"...I can't exactly describe the reason." Richard answered back, shaking his head gently. "Maybe it's the one directing the trials, subconsciously guiding me to do this, so that the trials are properly done?"

"Either way, we're all gathered here." Corrin answered back. "And we are prepared for what is to come, no matter what."

"Yeah, this is what we've been doing all this time, right?" Antonio remarked, back in his hedgehog form. "It's nothing different. We've got your backs, like you got ours. So don't worry about it, none of us are going to chicken out, just because it feels a little wrong."

Richard smiled, before he then beckoned the group to board the ship, as they took their seats, while Reisen and Gus helped to lock down the restraints for Elma, Flora and Erika first. As the pilot of the transport ship ignited the ship's engine, Richard could hear the sound of many other engines rumbling into action, as most of the group were aware that those were the escort ships that were protecting them on their journey to the enigmatic island.

"Man... I never thought I would miss the feeling of this, although it has only been a few months..." Marisa stated. "The feeling of enjoying a good ride on a ship."

"I guess that part of you never left you, even after the war, right?" Gus chuckled gently, as Richard barked in hard laughter, while Marisa scoffed with a embarrassed expression.

The transport ship then took flight, as it left the hangar, and right into the vast outer space, with the sizeable escort following around it, actively seeking out unknown targets, to identify and destroy if needed be. Thankfully, the trip was safe and uneventful, as the ship managed to reach the island quickly, before it then started its descent down on the surface of the island.

Strangely, the island seemed to have a transparent layer of energy, that acted like some sort of barrier, yet it allowed the transport ship and its escort to enter without any resistance. However, it was noted, from the environmental sensors on the ship itself, inside of it was a environment sustainable for human life, with sufficient oxygen and carbon dioxide to maintain a proper atmosphere of a habitable area.

After the ship had landed on the ground, the rear hatch opened, as the group stepped out of the large vehicle, and onto slightly worn stone. When they all turned around to gaze at the environment around them, they were surprised to see that the area around them seemed to be a mixture of lush environments, with tall trees surrounding the two sides of the path, and lively grass dotted around the area. The path they stood on, was made of shaped and worn stone, as they followed it along with their eyes, before it reached a large entrance made of black metal-alloy, with linear energy-veins around the edges of the large entrance.

"Odd..." Reisen remarked, seeing how the futuristic entrance clashed with the natural environment around them. "This thing before us is definitely not made of natural magic, or at least not without combining it with technology..."

"Your point being...?" Velouria asked back.

"She means that there is more to these grounds than what meets the eye." Gus answered back. "After all, I doubt that the task-master of these trials is merely well-informed about merely about elements of fantasy realms, but also the world of technology and sci-fi, and the intersection between both worlds, with how it looks."

"Doesn't change the facts that we're going ahead. It just means that the one holding the trials knows how to account for every single of us." Richard stated, before he then started walking along the path. "Come on."

The group followed him, as they made their way to the front of the entrance. Just right in front of the large sealed doors, was a pedestal with a familiarly-shaped imprint in the middle of it. Without any words, Richard pulled out the prismatic X-Stone, before he then slotted it in the hole, as a perfect fit. What happened after was the stone glowing brightly, as energy veins lit up with the same energy, as it flowed right into the doors, as they slid open with a loud, but muffled hiss.

Everyone descended down the stairs, which followed the futuristic setting of the entrance, as the edges of the stairs were glowing red, as there was white lights illuminating the path down. It took them a while to get to the bottom of the long staircase, but they managed to reach it, where another door lied. This one didn't require anything to activate, as Fox gently touched it, and it slid open.

It led them right into a large circular room, with an amount of doors for almost every member of the group to take one door each, as one of them would need two people, accounting the splitting involved. Right in the centre of the room itself, was a large circular console, which seemed to look like a holographic panel, except there was only hand-print scanners along the edge. Connecting between the large console and the various doors, were inactive energy lines on the ground, with one door having two energy lines connected to it. Each line was connected to a circular pad on the panel itself, and the entire room was mostly barren of any features, save for that, except for the large circular thin gap around the console itself.

"The hell is all of this...?" Reimu asked, before she then looked around, seeing the doors and the console. "Is this some sort of meeting room, because that's what it looks like to me."

"I think it's more of a central hub, with all those doors.' Antonio argued.

"Either way, we should look around for any clues, about what we should do-" Richard was about to say, before the top of the console glowed a bright blue, as it alerted the entire group. "What the..!?"

Before their eyes, they saw millions upon millions of grain-sized light particles spread out over the console itself, before those particles then condensed together quickly to form the holographic counterpart of a person, with the top of the console still lit up. Not only that, but the hand-print scanners suddenly roared into motion.

The person before them, seemed to have only half a face, with only a mouth and chin, the rest of it shadowed with a fading effect towards the top of the rest of the body was fine, as they could see that the person was dressed in a scientist's lab-coat, with long boots and leather gloves. It was hard to tell if the hologram itself was a male or female, before it spoke.

"Welcome, welcome, all of you." The hologram spoke in a digitalised male voice, that seemed to be quite casual, as it bowed gently in greetings. "It seems that you have come here as I have predicted. I would congratulate you for acquiring all the X-Stones and finding me, but you all are most aware that the trials have not ended, right? They are almost at the end, but a final set of challenges lie in wait for you. If you emerge victorious over them, I shall grant you what you have come for, and more."

"Well, could you at least give us some instructions to go with all of this?" Fox asked. "Because I don't think that we've got any clue for what those doors are for."

"Calm yourself down, Fox Mccloud. I was about to get to that." The hologram responded back, as it shocked several people, especially Fox, when the hologram addressed him already.

"How-" Link started to ask the hologram.

"-Do I know?" The hologram cut off, finishing off the question, before then flipping its hands and arms around to shrug. "Well, if I'm going to properly give you a fitting trial for each of you, not knowing each of you is a no-no. As for how I know it... Well, let's just say that I have my own ways, and I assure you that I didn't use any underhanded means of acquiring it. Now, regarding the trials... Those doors are your way to your trials. Most of you are individually separated to meet your designated trial head-on, with an exception. Who are involved into this exception, I will show you later."

"Just a few questions..." Elma stated, as the hologram turned to her. "...What are the trials that you are going to put each of us through? And who are you, mister?"

"Ah, you shall have your answers." The hologram responded back cheerfully. "I guess there's no point hiding what type of trials you're all facing. It's a straight-up fight with your matched opponent. I assure you, you'll find that your opponent is tailored to test you and your limits hard. It's magic vs. magic, fist vs. fist, weapon vs. weapon, same-type matching. Well, except for the one exception. And to answer the other question, you can just call me DW for now. For what it stands for, as some of you are racking your heads to figure out already, you'll know eventually."

"So, hypothetically speaking." Marisa asked back. "For someone like me, you're likely going to be putting another witch against me. That's what you're saying.'

"A simple example, although my pairings for you all are more complex than your standard roles. I have taken into account other factors as well." The hologram stated. "But why tell, when I can show. We might as well get this show off the road, before you guys start getting cold feet or second thoughts."

By the circular panels, holograms of each of the members appeared. "If you would please stand where your image is, and then placed your hand on the hand-print scanner in front of you." The hologram instructed. "Once you've done that, you'll know which door is set as your trial, indicated by the line of light that will appear behind you."

The group did what they were asked to do, as the less tech-savvy of the group hesitated for a moment, before seeing the others make their way to their positions, making the rest of them do what the hologram, DW as he calls himself, told them. Once everyone was on their positions, and pressed a hand onto the hand-print scanner, the circular device glowed brighter, before the energy lines below them lit up, as the energy moved along to the door, which then lit up brightly when the energy reached its destination. As soon as the process was done, the group turned around to see their respective energy line pointing to their destination. Richard and Gus, who was standing next to each other in the circle of members, were both surprised to see that their energy lines were pointing to a single door, causing them to look at each other in confusion, before it turned to understanding.

"Right then, it is all set." DW chuckled. "Just a word of note, before you all make your way to the trials. You can't take any grievous wounds or die in these trials, but you will be ejected if you are deemed too weak and damaged to fight, or you are forced into forfeit. Although this doesn't mean that if one of you fails their individual battle, you all fail, it's best that you all win. Only those who have win, have the right to challenge a failed trial themselves, and that will take a while, with the intense fights you'll all have."

"Geez, glad to hear that being beaten into a bloody pulp is allowed here..." Antonio sarcastically grumbled.

"Right then... I guess that this is where we divide and conquer." Richard stated, turning to everyone. "I know that we work well as a team, but don't underestimate your own individual strength. You all are capable of raising hell, so go and kick ass and show them that the Unmei Force are something to be reckoned with."

"Okay then, see you when the battle's over." Marisa grinned, before she then made her way to her door, as it slid up, allowing her to walk through it, before it then closed, as the light faded from it, indicating that it was locked.

"You better not be the one ending up dragging us back." Velouria growled at Richard, as she made her way to her door. "I doubt that you have an easy fight for yourself."

"We will be awaiting the good news." Reisen saluted back at Richard, as she entered her trial door.

"Don't worry, Richard. Even if we aren't together... We'll all make it through." Corrin spoke with a hopeful tone, as she left as well.

"Richard... Gus... I wish you good luck in your own battle." Flora smiled at the duo, before she then followed through her door.

Elma looked at both Richard and Gus for a moment, before Richard then nudged his head slightly, smiling gently, as if encouraging the young demoness to go on. Elma returned the smile, before she then went through her door with a determined expression. The rest of the group entered through their doors, until Richard and Gus were the only ones remaining.

"Richard..." Gus muttered.

"Don't say anything. Don't want to jinx ourselves, do we?" Richard remarked. "Let's see what we're up against. I doubt that you got anything that would be able to handle a tag-team between the two of us. Out of all possible pairs... We're one of the strongest in this group, so you better hope you have a decent challenge ready."

The two of them entered through the last door, as DW watched them leave, before a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Oh... You'll be surprised at what kinds of challenges I'll be providing, my friend." DW smirked. "After all, you've got a equally destructive enemy that you and your companion will be against. Either way, this will be interesting to see... Have your friends gotten stronger under your wing... Or have they stagnated in the peaceful moments away from the battlefields... Time to see the results."

DW then disappeared, leaving the large circular room barren and silent.


	2. Chapter 1

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 1: Lilac on Blue, Green on Green

* * *

_With Antonio the Hedgehog..._

Antonio continued down a short corridor, as there was a door in front of him, except it seemed to be locked, evident from the red light emanating from it. Seeing this, he sighed, looking around for something to help him unlock the door itself. When he did find something, he was left with a unamused expression.

"Seriously...? You want me to ditch Excalibur...!?" Antonio exclaimed, seeing the perfectly-shaped hole on the side of the door, which seemed to be the verification unit for the door itself.

"Sorry, but you're fighting this one bare-handed." DW's voice rang through the corridors. "It wouldn't be fair, since your opponent doesn't have a weapon of her own. Hope you know how to fight-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Antonio grumbled, before he then jammed Excalibur in, with a resounding click, and then cracking his knuckles, and leaning side-to-side to stretch himself. "Hate to disappoint, but I didn't place all my eggs in a single basket, so to speak. I assure you, I inherited a lot of my father's talents, and that includes fighting bare-handed."

"Well then, better hope that it'll help you through your fight." DW cheerfully remarked, before the door slid open.

Antonio passed through it, as he found himself in another room, except it looked like the core room of some sort of space fortress, with the colossal core looming over-head, as well as having a alien theme to the walls and floor, with glowing glass-like pods all over the walls, exotics metals meshed together into the structure.

He looked around, expecting an ambush from his opponent, although he did seemed to be at east at the fact that his opponent has yet to come. This did, however, test his patience, as he tapped his foot on the ground a few moments in a gesture of irritation.

He didn't wait long after that, as something crashed through one of the walls, leaving torn metal and sparks flying from where the being crashed from. This alerted Antonio, who turned around, preparing to fight his opponent. When he got a closer look at them, when they stopped moving, he raised an eyebrow in intrigue, at the one facing him right now.

It was a female purple-coloured, anthropomorphic water dragon, just about the same height as he was, with purple-coloured twin ponytails. She wore s a blue outfit with a dark blue waist belt, blue gloves with yellow trim, and blue boots with bolts of lightning at the heels, as well as shining blue earmuffs on the sides of her head, below her jutting sharp ears. His own eyes met with her pink ones, as he was made more curious.

"Huh. Never thought that I would be able to find someone like a Mobian." Antonio mused. "I'd say that you're a dragon species, by the looks of it, although you look more like a Chinese dragon, than the western kind."

The opponent did not respond back, as she glared at Antonio intensely, which the hedgehog picked up.

"Hm." Antonio murmured. "Either way, I know a friend that's a dragon like you. And she's fully Chinese as well. Still, you look like someone stepped on your tail. I'd say that you're in quite the hurry, and that's coming from an impatient person like me."

"Where. Is. Lord. Brevon?" The newcomer spat out venomously, her eyes filled with burning fury.

"...Oh. I see where this is going. This 'Lord Brevon' is something to you, like my father is to Doctor Eggman." Antonio responded back, before shaking his head, shrugging. "Sorry, but whoever that guy is, I ain't working for him. In fact, you're the one who rushed up to me, how do you expect me to know!?"

"Then get out of my way." The female dragon snapped back. "I won't ask twice."

"No can do." Antonio answered back. "Bad news, I'm stuck in this place, until one of us is beaten. And I sure as hell ain't going to be a disappointment to my father's legacy, by losing at all. You look like that you're capable, but you're going against the only son of the Blue Blur, so you're in for a real fight, lady."

"I don't care who gets in my way, machine or person... I will take you all out the SAME!" The dragoness furiously declared, raising her fists up for battle. "If you won't get out my way, I'll beat you down! I'll get my hands on Lord Brevon, for what he did to my Milia! I am Sash Lilac, and I am unleashed in fury!"

"Geez, sorry to be a jerk or ass here, but talk is cheap here. To return your introductions, name's Antonio the Hedgehog. Not like that you're going to be sing it much, after this fight." Antonio retorted back, before he then lowered himself into a fighting stance. "I wonder what you can do-"

Before Antonio could finish his sentence, Lilac sprinted forth, at a speed that rivalled that of Antonio's, as the hedgehog was caught off guard, finding himself being pummelled with a palm-strike under his chin, before he was then slammed up by Lilac's extending ponytails, which were hard and durable enough to be used like powerful whips. He didn't even have the time to recover from his daze, before Lilac dashed right into the air after him, before she then pummelled him with a series of strikes across his body, before then headbutting him right into the ground.

Antonio skidded across the ground, as he tried to recover himself, succeeding in doing so, while he glared at Lilac, who landed gracefully on both feet. He then scoffed a little, wiping the edge of his mouth, and being glad that these attacks only winded him, possibly bruised him slightly inside.

"Well. I guess that I was cocky there. You're pretty damn fast for a dragon, to be able to catch up to my speed like that." Antonio responded back, with a tone of admiration, before he then bent down to sprint. "But... You're not going to be done that easily...!"

Antonio then dashed at Lilac, who tried to do a frontal guard to block his attacks. However, at the last moment, he fainted to the side, before he then kicked Lilac on the side, stumbling her and breaking her guard. He then zipped back in front of her, before assaulting her with a series of body blows, before sending her back with a round-house kick, following up with a Homing Attack, as his spinning figure ground against her torso, before he then kicked her down with a downward kick to the ground.

Antonio then landed back on the ground, as he bolted off after Lilac, who barely recovered to block the attack, as she weathered the young hedgehog's blows. She then countered with a gut-punch, which Antonio quickly retaliated with a kick to the chin. This caused the two of them to back away from each other.

As if challenging each other, their eyes narrowed towards each other, before they then clashed against each other at fast speeds, as they were spinning around and around the battlefield, as they tried to get around each others defences. The force of their clashed, amplified by the ludicrous speed they were fighting at, caused shock-waves that made the entire area tremble.

They then separated once again, before Lilac prepared to charge once again, with energy wrapping around her. At the same time, Antonio jumped up and rolled himself into a position to use his Homing Attack, as he was spinning much faster than his usual attack. The two of them clashed with each other, neither attack being broken, as they then bashed against each other over and over with their pursuing attacks, become two blurs mid-air, one blue, and one purple, dancing across high in the air.

Their deadlock ceased, when they found themselves exhausted, as both of them managed to stick their landings, and they observed each other, hoping to see how they fare compared to their opponent now.

"Hah... Hah... Damn, you really know how to fight." Antonio remarked. "Fighting you is just like sparring with Father or Uncle Shadow again, except the fight's fair against me, with how you're looking.

"Look who's talking..." Lilac huffed, raising a tired finger. "You don't look so hot either."

"Maybe not, but with how you are, this is now at the point of sudden death." Antonio smirked back. "You're going down, dragon girl, because when it comes to fighting at the edge of desperation, the lineage of the Blue Blur is one of the best ones for the situation."

"I like to see you TRY!" Lilac growled back.

The two of them rushed at each other, as they clashed against each other, this time on the ground, as they scraped past each other, each time they bent around to face and charge their opponent, trading blows that blocked each other. Eventually, they began to slow down, as they became more visible to the observer's eyes, and their attacks were less focused and powerful than with how they started the battle with.

They then backed away, before they then faced each other once more. This time, they looked determined to finish this, as they readied themselves for a final push to charge and run over their opponent, before they then smashed against each other, with auras of speed rushing over them. Both of them struggled to keep each other at bay, as they were sweating, and their bodies were beginning to grow sore.

"...Sorry, but you've lost this one..." Antonio grinned weakly, before he then gambled more of his strength into the attack, risking any hope of winning, should the attack fail. It managed to get through, with Antonio's speed aura crushing Lilac's own, allowing him to approach her, as the dragon girl was too exposed from the charge to properly block, before she then found herself being slammed with a devastating kick to the abdomen, that sent her flying right into a wall, cratering it slightly.

Antonio stood there for a moment, as he was completely our of energy to even move, leaving him vulnerable, if Lilac were to mount a counter-attack at that moment. However, Lilac was bordering the edge of unconsciousness, as she slammed belly-first onto the ground, done in by the brutal attack, as she groaned weakly, twitching her arms and legs to try and move herself.

"You may be good with those martial arts of yours... And you might be a powerful dragon..." Antonio huffed. "But my father took far more unfavourable battles when he was around my age and level of health... So I'm going to push past my own limits, and beat you fair and square, to prove that the son takes after the father."

Lilac's only response was pained moans, before Antonio sighed, slowly trudging over the poor dragon girl, and then sitting cross-legged down in front of her.

"I'm not sorry that I beat you in a fair fight." He bluntly stated, before his expression softened. "But I feel a bit bad, in all honesty, for having to fight you for some stupid reason like that. You got a real fight ahead of you, and now you've been laid out by me. Get some rest, the world can wait for a while, for you to get back in the game. You wouldn't want to take down that 'Lord Brevon' guy with these bruises, eh?"

"...Why...?" Lilac asked, weakly raising her head to face the hedgehog. "...So... you are really..."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not one to beat around girls, especially ones as cute in personality and appearance. Hell, I like that burning fire in your heart, flowing to your eyes, in the entire battle." Antonio complimented the purple dragon girl, before he then pulled out something, a small glass tube filled with bright red liquid. "Here. Usually, I carry something like this, on behest of my friend, so that I could get in the fight right away after taking a beating, but I think that you're going to need that more than I do. Go on, it's yours, for managing to get through all that."

"...Really? Thanks." Lilac thanked Antonio back, as she slowly grasped the tube of healing solution. "I'll take it when I feel like I can move again."

"Well then, I think that I've done enough fighting here." Antonio responded back, before he then saw that the door he came from, lit up again. "Hope we'll meet again in better circumstances, Sash Lilac. I would rather be flattering a girl like you, not bashing one."

Antonio then walked through the door, as Sash Lilac looked at the glass tube gifted to her, before she grasped it firmly.

"I hope for the same... Antonio." Lilac spoke with a hopeful tone.

* * *

_With Link..._

Link continued through the corridors, as he had his sword and shield at the ready, slowly inching forward, before he then reached the door. Without another word, he pressed a hand on the door, as it slid open, allowing him to enter his trial grounds.

When he reached his destination, he found himself being located on a large arena in the midst of a vast fores that spread out as far as his eye can see, and there were hanging torches on the sides of the arena, as the only two directions, that were not being sealed by a dense ring of stone pillars, was the one he came from, and one that was right in front of him.

He then turned to look behind him, noticing that the door had disappeared. Recalling that he himself was in a trial, he did not let his spirit falter, as he only steeled his resolve to face down his imminent opponent.

His opponent did come quite quickly, as metallic boots clattered onto stone, and he saw a woman dressed in green layered armour, with styled shoulder-guards, and golden linings, as well as a leather sash with a golden buckle in front of it, with a white rectangular skirt, long green and gold long metal combat boots. She had her dark hair tied in the back as a short bun by a fabric wrap, with green ribbons hanging off it, as the rest of her short hair parted evenly to the sides of her head. He could read her stoic expression, and see her calm spirit through her brown eyes. She wielded a sword and shield much like the greenly-dressed hero, although her shield was rectangular.

"...So you are my opponent?" Link asked the mysterious woman, as he drew his blade for battle. "At least, before we fight, I would like to know your name, as a gesture of mutual respect and honour."

"...Xingcai." The woman answered back, with a even tone.

"Very well, Xingcai. My name is Link. Link Hylia, to be exact." Link responded back. "I will not dissuade from this fight, nor will I actively seek your death in this battle. All I ask is that you come at me with everything you got, as I will do the same."

"...You are quite odd, but I don't plan on showing mercy." Xingcai answered back, twirling her blade up into battle. "I'm afraid your destiny has run its course, Link Hylia. You face me in battle."

"I don't plan on losing here, Xinghai, sorry to say." Link answered back. "Come on then, let's see who'll emerge victorious from this fight."

The two of them sprinted at each other, as they simultaneously attacked each other. And also at the same time, they blocked each other's attack with their shields. This surprised both of them, causing them to back away, shocked by the fact that they managed to block each other. However, that thought didn't last long, as the two of them clashed back against each other again.

Xingcai tried to bat Link away with a series of wide sword waves, which was blocked by the Hylian hero. However, it did leave him unable to expect a straight shield-bash from Xingcai, which thrust him back greatly. She then dashed after him, before releasing another series of slashes, before she then threw her shield up, before then crushing Link's guard with a wide sweeping blow using her full strength, as the blow sent him flying back. Xingcai then caught her shield, before adjusting it slightly.

Link recovered quickly, as he didn't give Xingcai any chance to continue her offensive, as he counter-attacked her, swinging his blade with power, before he then returned the favour from earlier, with a shield-bash of his own, although he kept charging, pushing Xingcai across the ground. However, when he shifted her guard up, he then launched her into the air with a rising slash, before he then sliced down on the airborne female warrior, before then smashing her to the ground with his blade.

Xingcai slowly moved to the side, just in time to avoid being impaled by Link's falling blade, as she kicked Link away hard enough to give her space to recover. The two of them faced each other again.

"You are quite good with those weapons in your hands." Link admitted in respect. "I thought that Richard was the only one who could fight well with shield and sword, before he then diverted himself to his twin-bladed swordsmanship style. You are worthy of much respect, especially with someone as young as you, Xingcai."

"Your compliments are noted, but we are in battle with each others. It's best that you keep all banter to yourself, until the victor is decided." Xingcai answered back, before she then raised her blade up, as a aura of energy surrounded her. "Prepare yourself, for I will push myself further, in order to defeat you here and now!"

Link was then attacked by Xingcai, whose attacks were much more furious and powerful than before, as he was forced to resort to solely blocking the blows, with how powerful they were, even managing to bat away his shield with each hit that landed upon it. However, being forced to the defensive, only drove Link into a corner, as Xingcai then shot into the air, before she then quickly slid her shield under her feet, landing and skidding across the ground towards Link, who tried to predict where she would attack from, as the female warrior skid side-to-side to throw off his guard. She then slashed at Link, when she was in range, as her diversions managed to partially work, as some of the attack did hit Link, yet most of it was blocked by the shield. This forced Link to kneel, as he was pained from the massive blow, despite how little of it struck him.

"Will you yield now?" Xingcai asked back, raising her blade in a threatening manner. "This match has been already decided, on the moment that the balance between each other was broken in my favour with my own empowerment."

"Indeed... But you aren't the only one who can push themselves beyond what they can take!" Link chuckled lightly, before he then pushed himself back onto his feet. He then charged up his power, before he then let out a determined war-cry, as he was enveloped in a golden aura with magical strings of runes circling around his figure. "COME ON!"

Link then rushed back at Xingcai, as the odds were turned on the table once again, as Xingcai was surprised that Link's attacks were much more faster, and even a little bit more powerful than before, as she defended against most of the attacks, before she was then sent flying back with a powerful blow from Link, as the green hero cocked back his sword, and then launched a spinning sword wave projectile, that batted Xingcai's shield away, staggering her, as she was then smashed back with a powerful thrust from Link.

"Damn... It seems that the tables have turned against me. I shall give my very best. I am ready to end this!" Xingcai growled, before her power increased yet again, as red lightning sparked from her. "Prepare yourself!"

"I will not be deterred!" Link roared back, before he then charged his energy to his blade, as it began to glow, before the light coalesced to extend the blade further, as Link twisted back, prepared to unleash a powerful attack.

The two of them unleashed their ultimate attacks at the same time, as Xingcai began to slash in alternating directions furiously while charging forth, as her blade left streaks of chaotic green energy. Link began to use his signature spin attack, as he swung towards Xingcai. Both of their assaults repelled each other, as sparks flew and shockwaves were created each time the powerful attacks met each other. After a while, the two of them broke away from each other, preparing to deal the final strike against each other.

Almost at the same time, they unleashed a thrust against each other, with all of their power, as both of them landed on each other. There was a moment of silence, neither of them willing to fall. However, after a while Link fell onto his knees, clutching his chest wound, where Xingcai's blade struck him, as the tunic was being stained by blood. However, Xingcai fell afterwards, collapsing completely on the ground, as her wound was on her abdomen, and she was bleeding much worse than Link himself.

"It seems that... I emerged victorious... at a terrible cost for both sides." Link grimly remarked, before he then inched towards Xingcai. "You fought well... I only hope that you won't die from this fight."

He then turned around, as he saw the door reappear. He looked back at Xingcai with worry in his eyes, but keeping in mind that he could do nothing to help the downed female warrior as she was right now, as he simply returned back through the door, a little guilty about severely harming his opponent and drawing a near-fatal wound onto her.

When he left the corridor, the door disappeared, and surprisingly, shortly after that, Xingcai's own body disappeared in a flash of light, as did the blood she split on the ground.

"That's two for two... Hm, interesting indeed." DW remarked to himself, after having witnessed the current fights from an unknown location within the facility.


	3. Chapter 2

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 2: Fox vs Wolf, Hakurei vs Kagura

* * *

_With Fox Mccloud..._

Fox went down the pathway to his trial room, without any hesitation or worry on his expression, as he was already prepared for the battle to come, as he made his way to the door on the other side. With a tap from his hand, the door opened for him, allowing him to enter.

When he was inside the room, he looked around, before his eyes widened, when he managed to get a full look of the area itself, as it was quite familiar to him, being a large base, with windows on the four sides, all of them showing the brown-lit deep space around them, with asteroid fragments and all kinds of space debris floating amongst it. What's more was that the area itself was fairly run-down, as if it was handled by rough space pirates.

"...The Sargasso Base... I never thought that I'd be back here again." Fox remarked to himself, before he then raised his blaster. "I think that I have a good feeling on who I'm pitted against here... You can come out now, Wolf O'Donnel, if you're going to try something, you might as well show your face before we start trying to kill each other."

There was only silence for a moment, as Fox snapped himself around, pointing his blaster at every possible vantage point that Wolf could ambush him from. However, he then heard his rival's cackling, causing him to snap towards the direction of the voice, as he heard footsteps accompanying it. After a while, Wolf O'Donnel, leader of Star Wolf, in his grey-furred glory, dressed in purple coat, black pants, mostly covered by his spiked pilot boots, and cybernetic scouter on his left eye, showed himself, smirking widely like the wolf he was.

"I got to say, Fox, you've gotten quite smart yourself." Wolf remarked, his grin not leaving his face. "I'd say that you're becoming more like your father, these days, don't you think?"

"Why don't you try me and see for yourself, Wolf?" Fox answered back, as he raised his blaster to aim for Wolf's head.

"Ah, Fox... It seems that you're looking for a fight. Wolf sighed, before his grin grew wider, before he then whipped out his own blaster. "Good, because I'm also here for one! Once I'm done with you, I'm going to have a new foxtail for my spaceship!"

The two anthropomorphic aces immediately fired upon each other, as they rushed for cover, with their shots whizzing past each other, as they bobbed and weaved out of each other's shots, although Wolf's purple wave-like projectiles were harder to dodge with their shape and length, for Fox himself. Yet the same could be said, as Fox's own blaster out-paced Wolf's own, raining green laser blasts around Wolf. Once both of them managed to get themselves to cover, Fox behind a large metal container, and Wolf behind a set of stairs to hide and cover himself behind.

The two of them fired on each other again, as they tried to land a shot on each other, although it proved to be difficult, with how their cover managed to absorb most of the shots without any difficulty. However, the next moment that Fox decided to peek out of cover, he then found a hail of machine-gun fire heading his way, forcing him to hide behind cover, as the hail of bullets clashed against the metallic container, while he could barely hear Wolf's cruel laughter amidst the rattling of the gun and the pattering of bullets on metal.

From out of Fox's view, Wolf wielded a large machine-gun in his hands, as he sprayed bullets onto Fox's cover. "What's the matter, is that all you can do, Fox?" Wolf mocked, before he then slowly advanced, while slapping a new clip of bullets in, before he continued his suppression. "Such a shame really, to think that the successor of the Mccloud name is about to fall here. How pathetic!"

Fox waited for a while, for Wolf to reload, as he then produced a flashbang from his own coat, and then flung it at Wolf, as it clattered right in front of Wolf, surprising the lupine soldier, before it then exploded, as the point-blank blast assaulted Wolf's senses greatly, leaving his head ringing, as he struggled to get them back. At that moment, Fox then rushed up to Wolf, before then using one hand to grapple the machine-gun, and the other to sock Wolf with a hard hook punch that floored Wolf, and released his grip on the machine gun. Fox then tossed the machine gun away, as it clattered far from the two combatants, before Fox then made for Wolf to pummel him.

However, Wolf growled, before he then activated his reflector, as the purple razor-edged barrier forced Fox to halt himself, before he would be sliced onto the reflector itself. Wolf then quickly rose back up onto his feet, before he then got rid of what remained of the flashbang's effects.

"Smart. You managed to get my away from my own weapon." Wolf responded back, before he then lowered himself into a fighting position. "But you know what this means."

"Yeah." Fox answered back, before he then slowly lowered himself into a fighting position. "Yeah, I do. Let's settle this with fisticuffs, Wolf. Hope you haven't rusted on your fighting skills after being in that Wolfen for so long."

"Heh, you know nothing about me when it comes to that!" Wolf snarled back, before he then dashed at Fox, before swinging his claws to lacerate Fox, which Fox dodged by arching back, before going for a kick on Fox, which knocked the Star Fox leader off his feet.

Fox quickly looked up, before rolling to the side, to avoid being stomped on by Wolf, before he then kicked Wolf under the chin with a flip-kick, allowing him to get back up onto his feet. He then smashed through Wolf with a Fox Illusion, before then attacking Wolf from behind with a series of kicks and punches, then grabbing Wolf, spinning him around to face him. After that, he charged a Fire Fox that burned Wolf, and launched him along with the rising fox, before he was sent back to earth with a downwards kick.

Fox expected to land back on his feet, although he was shocked, when Wolf got back onto his feet, before he then cocked himself back, before then slicing through the air, leaving behind a trail of purple energy where his claws left, as he managed to hit Fox fully with his claws, before he then slashed downwards onto Fox, cutting into him further. Once Fox landed back on the ground, Wolf then pummelled him with a series of side-kicks, before finishing off with a abdomen punch that winded Fox, and then smashing Fox down on the ground with a downwards pummel. He then grabbed the prone fox by the chin, lifting his head up slightly.

"Got to say, pup." Wolf admitted. "You've gotten pretty good all these years, and you managed to give me quite the run for the money. However, I have had enough playtime. Time for you to join your father, Mccloud!"

Wolf then used his other hand, to grab his blaster, before aiming it at Fox's head. However, Fox then took this moment to discretely activate his reflector, which slammed into Wolf point blank, sending him flying back. Fox then swivelled himself around, grabbing his blaster, before then firing his blaster rapidly at the air-borne Wolf, as the blaster shots seared through his armour, and strike flesh. Wolf's expression turned into one of disbelief and agony, before he then slammed back down on the ground, skidding across it, as he was knocked out by the combination of pain from the blaster-fire and the impact.

"Heh... Can't let you do that, Wolf." Fox mocked, parodying Wolf's own signature quote towards himself, before he then holstered his blaster. "Hm... That was fairly easy for a trial. Sure hope that this ain't just a fluke. But then again, Wolf's not the kind of guy to fight outside his Wolfen, unless he really must, and he did have a few new tricks in his sleeve. Had I not learned some new tricks myself... He would have really killed me."

He then noticed that the door ahead of him reappeared once again, as he made his way to it, but not before giving the defeated Wolf a single glance and a smirk, before going through the doors.

* * *

_With Reimu Hakurei..._

Reimu exited her own door, as she found herself situated in a stone circle situated in a dark area around her. She looked around, as the stone structures looked like as if they were sacred grounds themselves, as there was energy pulsing under the cracks of the stone floor, and pillars that had torches situated on them, with blue flames inside of them. In the centre was a large hole, where a pillar of smoke rose, lit up by the light under the area.

She then looked around, hoping to find her opponent, as she prepared her gohei and ofuda, ready to fight at the first sign of trouble. After a few seconds of looking around, she managed to get her sight onto her opponent, a mature woman with a white hair-band, long black hair styled into a hime-cut, with gaps between each strip of hair, a white shrine maiden robe with red linings, black pants, and black closed-toe high-heels. She also had brown eyes, which seemed to match that of Reimu's.

"How odd… I didn't expect to see someone in this cursed place, much less another shrine maiden." The woman remarked. "Tell me, who are you? Who is your patron god, that you serve for?"

"Why don't you tell me first?" Reimu asked back, with a forceful tone. "You sure don't look like a proper shrine maiden, wearing just only those miko robes of yours."

"I could say the same back to you, young miko." The woman answered back sharply. "But I shall answer your question first, as you seem like that you're the one foreign here. I am Chizuru Kagura, the wielder of the Yata Mirror, sacred treasure of Susanoo. The place where we stand, is the grounds where the destructive and malevolent Orochi has been sealed. I don't know what is your reasons of being here, but you must leave."

"Hmph, that's not for you to decide." Reimu grumbled back, before she then placed her gohei down, and slid the ofuda back into her sleeves. "My name is Reimu Hakurei, my patron goddess is the Hakurei Goddess. Not exactly a known god in the Japanese pantheon of great gods, but I assure you, I'm more than what I look."

"I see, miko of Hakurei, I ask that you leave this place." Kagura replied back. "If you won't leave, then I will use force to do so. The seal holding Orochi is fragile indeed, and I cannot allow him to escape and wreak havoc on the world."

"That's fine, I'd be willing to help you send him back to whatever depths he crawled out of." Reimu answered back, before shaking her head. "But you see, I can't exactly leave, and not because I don't want to. In fact, I'd leave if I have to. But a certain asshole dropped me here, and expected the both of us to fight. When there's a winner, only then can I leave, whether I lose or win."

"…That seems terrible. Are you certain that this is the only way that you can return?" Kagura asked, slightly sympathetic to Reimu's situation.

"Don't give me pity. You may hold a sacred treasure, but back where I'm from, I've tamed even gods and goddesses, to follow a certain order that my land holds. Very few can handle a good fight with me." Reimu answered back, before she then crossed her arms. "But since you say that this seal of yours is fragile, I'm not going to resort to spell-cards to win this fight. In fact, you don't look particularly powerful, excluding that sacred mirror of yours. You want me gone? You better give me your best then, because I ain't going to hold back pummelling you, because I have a reason to win, other than to prove who's the better miko."

"…You seem strongly determined about this." Kagura stated, before she then nodded slowly, and taking a respectful tone. "Very well, I will respect your request, if what you say is true. You are correct that I'm not quite as powerful as you, from the power that you exuded briefly at the start of our exchange, but I assure you, a Kagura does not fall easily, especially one like myself, who was a part of the reason why Orochi lies behind the seal. Prepare yourself, Reimu, for I will show you a serious fight."

Kagura then readied herself, as Reimu did the same, as the two of them faced off against each other for a few moments. Kagura then charged at Reimu, as she struck at the red shrine-maiden with a series of flowing palm strikes, which Reimu tried to block, although some of them struck through her guard. She then twisted herself backwards, flipping her arms around herself.

"Jokatsu Zheng Zheng!" Kagura declared, before she then did a series of overhand palm strikes, which smashed Reimu down onto the ground repeatedly, before she then hopped forwards slightly, and caught the recovering Reimu with a leaping side kick, knocking Reimu back. "Jokatsu Cang Cang!"

Reimu slammed onto the side of a stone pillar, as she recovered, using the pillar side as support, before she then charged forward and returned the favour against Chizuru, with a series of palm strikes of her own, before then booting Chizuru back with a front kick, and then smashing her back further with a double palm-strike. Before Chizuru could recover, she was smashed with a elbow-check by the red shrine maiden, breaking her guard open, before Reimu then decked her in the chest with an Ascension Kick, sending Chizuru into the ai. She then chained it with a rising kick, before then sending Chizuru down on the ground with a downwards palm strike.

Chizuru slid herself back onto her feet, just as Reimu landed on the ground, as she gently touched her torso, bruised by Reimu's brutal attacks.

"It seems that you are fairly powerful, Hakurei…" Chizuru answered back, before she then slowly spun her hands around the front of her. "But your fight won't be easy regardless, for I have another power that will turn the tables on you."

She then created a few clones of herself, which seemed to look almost like the real Chizuru. They slowly lowered themselves into combat posture, before they rushed at Reimu at once. Reimu had trouble trying to fight off the multiple clones of Chizuru that rushed at her, as most of the blows leaked through her own guard, and she was left being pushed back slowly.

However, that fact changed, when Reimu herself managed to counter one of the clone's attack, retaliating with a high kick, which caused the clone to dissipate, as Chizuru winced in pain, as if she was struck herself, causing Reimu to be intrigued by the event itself.

"So these clones of yours can fight… But they're fragile, and you share their pain…" Reimu stated, before she then smirked deviously. "Well then, if you're going to use that ability of yours, then it's only fair that I turn it back on its head, to beat you back!"

Reimu then focused on evading the attacks from the clones, as she countered each and every clone, as they were taken down one by one with palm strikes or kicks from the red shrine maiden. When Reimu noticed that the last one before her was vulnerable, she then went for a strong low kick. However, her attack didn't go through, as it struck the clone, as if it was real, as it skidded across the floor, shocking Reimu.

"What the…!?" Reimu exclaimed, before she frantically looked around for the real Kagura, who seemed to have disappeared. She then looked back at the 'clone' Kagura, which slowly got up, scuffed where her attack landed, allowing Reimu to realise what Kagura done. "…Swapping with your clone mid-attack. Clever, very clever. Make the enemy think that a single swipe would break your clones open, and then you swap with one of the attacked clones, and block it yourself, before countering it. A versatile ability, I have to admit."

"I admire your compliments, but we are still in a fight." Kagura answered back, before she then created a clone that rushed up to Reimu. "100 Katsu: Tenjin no Kotowari!"

Reimu quickly reacted, and dodged backwards, as the clone immediately did a twirling spin attack, which would have smacked Reimu up, had it landed. However, Kagura wasn't done, as she pushed her arm out. "212 Katsu: Shinsoku no Norito!" She chanted.

Chizuru's clone then sprinted at Reimu, before then doing a strong criss-crossing arm strike which knocked Reimu back, as Chizuru exchanged positions with her clone, before she then leapt up and added another strike. "Tenzui!" She shouted.

Reimu quickly recovered herself, before she then saw a Chizuru clone jumping into the air, as she then thrusted down on Reimu with her palm, as Reimu managed to guard the attack with her forearm. "212 Katsu Otsu Shiki: Choumon no Isshin!" Kagura roared.

Reimu then dodged to the side, as she managed to avoid a palm thrust from Chizuru, who wanted to catch Reimu unaware, as she then shifted herself to face Chizuru again. Reimu then charged at Chizuru, who quickly sent a clone forward, before she then swapped places with it. As her attack went through the clone, Reimu growled, before then spinning around, and bringing her leg over for a overhead kick, that Chizuru was forced to block.

"You react fast… But I'll end it here! Rimen 1 Katsu: Sanrai no Fujin!" Chizuru declared, before she then summoned a clone, which then did a flowing spinning palm strike that grinded against Reimu's guard, as the real Chizuru tried to attack her unguarded lower half, as Reimu was forced to dodge side-to-side to avoid the low attacks. The clone then finished off with a strong pushing palm strike, that forced Reimu back slightly.

"Alright, I'm tired of this." Reimu snarled, before she then dashed up to Chizuru, who was still recovering from using one of her stronger techniques, decking her with a strike to the abdomen. "You want to finish this, Kagura? Then let me fulfil your wish then! I'm not going to let you have the chance to try and escape my own strikes this time!"

Chizuru gagged slightly, as the blow managed to stun her briefly, allowing Reimu enough time to unleash a series of palm strikes and kicks, before she then finished with a low kick that unbalanced Chizuru. She then pulled out a spell-card out of her own sleeve, prepared to activate it.

"Declare Spell Card: Holy Relic "Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb"!" Reimu roared, as the card turned to energy which flowed into both of her hands, as they glowed brightly, before she then forced the energy out in the form a large searing energy orb that caught Chizuru in the middle of it, as the white shrine-maiden was severely injured from the attack, as she collapsed the moment the attack ended.

"…Strong…" Chizuru could only utter, being on her knees, and huffing in exhaustion. "This kind of power… Who are you truly, Hakurei…?"

"Like I told you, I'm a shrine maiden who spends her time dealing with rowdy and rebellious gods and goddesses. Ain't much other mikos who can claim the same, save for my own late mother and my respectable acquaintance Sanae." Reimu answered back briefly, before she then gave off a faint smirk. "Still, you did have me for a while, and I've duked it out with strong people when it comes to fighting within close range of each other. Just that I also have to make use of my gohei and ofuda. I didn't intend to use a Spell Card to end it, but you look like that you were only going to get more troublesome as the battle goes. So consider it a partial victory and an honour to you, forcing me to use these means to end the fight. I guess that makes you the first shrine maiden to actually make me fight you properly in a non spell-card duel."

Chizuru was left bewildered by the words that Reimu was saying, as she expressed her confusion clearly. "I… don't understand what you are saying." She admitted. "So you are saying that you are far more powerful than you would have been, had you not handicapped yourself?"

"Oh, I didn't handicap myself in terms of physical power. I really did smack you hard, so I guess you got a good body to resist those blows of mine." Reimu responded back, crossing her arms. "But yeah, you look like that on the magical side of things, you're not going to get far with your level of overall power. Then again, the power to seal ain't a joke, and that's a word from a shrine maiden who also done her fair share of sealing away impudent demons. You just need to get stronger."

"I see… Thank you for your advice, wise Hakurei…" Chizuru answered back, with a humbled tone.

"No, drop the 'wise' pronoun. I'm not exactly the most intelligent girl in this whole universe." Reimu answered back. "I'm just simply good with thinking some things through, and I know what to say and do in these kind of situations. So you don't need to act like I'm your senior or something, you look almost the same age as myself, so I'd say we're fellow believers of faith."

Chizuru nodded gently, before the door reappeared, catching the attention of both shrine maidens.

"I guess that the outcome has been decided." Reimu stated, before turning back at Chizuru. "Hope I didn't mess either you or that seal of yours up, especially the latter with that powerful strike I did to you."

"No, the fight didn't once impact the seal at all. As for myself… I will recover fairly quickly from these bruises and pain." Chizuru stated. "Go, Hakurei… You have a duty of your own, as I do here."

"Well, if we see each other again… I'll invite you for some tea." Reimu replied back, before she made for the door. "I know some tea that will soothe your soul, just from drinking it."

Reimu then entered through the door, as Chizuru watched as it disappeared, before she sighed.

"This shrine maiden… I wonder how much she has yet to tell me… With all that power in her hands…" Chizuru muttered to herself.


	4. Chapter 3

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 3: Witches' Rumble, Duel of the Part-time Mikos

* * *

_With Marisa Kirisame..._

When Marisa made it to her destination, she was quite surprised that the futuristic facility turned into ancient infrastructure, as the entire area looked like the inside of a sacred temple, with various stone statues of various mystical beings, and wall-mounted torches mostly around her. She then looked around, as she is fairly surprised that the place looked like it was actually looked as she assumed. She looked around, hoping to find anything that she could interact with, in order to proceed to her actual trial.

"Huh... Why does this place seem familiar somehow...?" Marisa remarked, as the entire look of the place reminded her of a place where she and her friends once went to. "I think that this was a place when we helped Corrin to beat that illusion dragon... Anankos, if I recalled correctly? Well, it's not exactly the same, and I bet that this is just a reconstruction, so I shouldn't worry about it too much."

Marisa then heard the sound of someone warping in, as there stood the red-haired figure of Himiko Yumeno, Ultimate Magician, as she is clad in black sorceress robes, that covered most of her body, as she still had her trademark black cloak around her neck and back, and her hat was much more refined, and the staff in her hand was a refined version of her own staff, as the diamond tip of it was glowing gently with energy. The arrival of the red-haired magician seemed to surprise Marisa, as she was surprised that her opponent would be a magician like Himiko.

"...Huh...? This girl... She looks like that she's more than what she looks." Marisa stated. "Much like myself, when I first learned magic myself."

"Nyeeeh..." Himiko muttered drowsily. "I wonder how things are going with the others right now..."

Himiko then notices Marisa looking at her, as she turned her head to face the other person in the room. "Hm? Who exactly are you?" She asked back. "I don't think that we've met before. But you seem to look like a magician too..."

"Well, yeah." Marisa smirked back, puffing up her chest slightly in pride. "I'm the Ordinary Black and White Magician, Marisa Kirisame. Although I assure you, my title betrays the extraordinary talents in magic that I have."

"Mmm..." Himiko nodded gently. "Nice to meet you, Marisa. My name is Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician."

"Ultimate...?" Marisa asked back, raising an eyebrow in intrigue. "Don't you think that's a little bit too over-the-top, even if you're powerful enough to match up to the expectations of that title?"

"That's just how it is. SHSL Ultimate Magician, that's me." Himiko answered back. "But really, I prefer Ultimate Mage over that. Sounds a bit more nicer in my opinion."

"Well, that's nice and all, but what are you exactly doing here? Are you here to fight me or something?" Marisa stated, crossing her arms with a frown. "Because if you are, you might as well get yourself ready, since I'm going to be coming at you with all I got."

"Nyeehh... Can we not?" Himiko groaned, as she didn't seem to be interested at all. "I know that I'm a magician and all, but I want to use my magic for something better than fighting, and use it to give children something to enjoy. Can't you just take me back, or have someone do that for me?"

"Well, although I'd love to get a free pass on that, but I know that's not going to happen at all." Marisa sighed back, before she equipped her Hakkero in her hand. "Neither of us are leaving, until we fight and determine a winner. If you really wanna get this done fast, just let me beat you. I promise that it's be quick and painless, and we'll both come out of this, happy and satisfied. Of course, if you really have no choice but to fight, then like I said, come at me with all you got."

"Nyyeeeh... Fine." Himiko complained, before she then pulled out a tome in her other hand. "I've become a far greater magician than I was before, and I have MP a-plenty to fight this battle. So you better give up now, because I'm really strong with magic. Because I'll pile a lot of spells onto you if you won't."

"Try me then." Marisa mocked back, as she rose into the air, as she pointed her Hakkero at Himiko. "We'll see whose magic emerges victorious here."

Marisa then fired a series of star-shaped danmaku at Himiko, although Himiko reacted quickly, as she tapped her staff on the ground, as it created a magic barrier in front of her, that absorbed the energy projectiles, before it disappeared. Before Marisa could launch another attack, Himiko already made her counter, as the pages of her tome flipped to her own will, as she then pointed the staff's tip at Marisa.

"Fire!" Himiko chanted, as her staff glowed red for a moment, before it fired off a large fire-ball at Marisa. The blonde witch then dodged the attack, as she swerved to the side, grazing the attack close enough to feel the heat flowing over her skin.

"Well, you're going to need something more dense to even come close to attacking me like that!" Marisa shouted back, before she then fired a small laser at Himiko with her Hakkero, as Himiko was forced to dodge to the side. "Take this!"

Marisa then fired laser beams continuously at Himiko, as Himiko swerved out of most of the beams, and using magic barriers to reflect the others away from her, as she managed to deflect one back at Marisa, who avoided her own redirected attack. At that moment, Himiko's tome acted up again, as her staff glowed yellow this time, and there was a build-up of energy for a moment.

"Since you like to fly, then I'll have to take you down with some thunder. Elthunder!" Himiko shouted, as she fired a large orb of lightning, that exploded mid-flight, into a burst of lighting bolts, that showered the entire area around Marisa.

Marisa found that the attack was much harder to dodge, as she could barely keep up with the salvo of lightning bolts coming her way, as one managed to hit close enough to singe her clothes, and another manage to strike her leg, paralysing it slightly, and making her flail momentarily in the air, as she tried to right herself after being hit by the paralysing attack.

"Okay, you asked for it!" Marisa growled, before she then used her other hand to pull out several of her bombardment potions from her skirt's pouch, and used the Hakkero to fire a spread of star-shaped danmaku at Himiko. The combined assault of the exploding potions, and the danmaku, managed to hit the ground-bound magician several times, as the danmaku stung her body, and the exploding potions staggered her on impact.

Himiko waited for her moment to counter Marisa's assault, as she flipped through the pages of her tome, to find a suitable spell to either ground Marisa, or least guarantee a great hit on her, even while she is able to manoeuvre in the air to avoid the attack itself. As she continued to evade, she managed to acquire the desired spell, as her staff began to glow green.

"You won't be flying for now this time for sure! Take this!" Himiko yelled, as she then charged her magic up again, all while still dodging most of the projectiles, and weathering some of them to fire her spell off. "Tornado!"

From her staff, she summoned a small tornado, which slowly grew in size as it inched closer towards Marisa, as she tried to dodge the tornado, although the confined space of the large room, caused her to be unable to dodge the attack, as she was thrown around by the raging winds, before she was spit out of it, hitting a wall hard, as she slammed down on the ground, dazed for the moment. Himiko took the chance to prepare another spell, as her staff's glow turned to blue.

"Blizzard!" Himiko shouted, as she fired a blast of blue energy, that shot towards Marisa. Marisa slowly got up, before she saw the moving spell coming towards her, as she used her Hakkero to fire a blast from the ground to propel her away just enough to be out of the spell's path, as she scurried away further, as the spell hit where she used to be, and create a massive burst of ice, that would have definitely frozen Marisa, if she was caught in it.

"Damn... That's a lot of spells you have here, and they're strong too...!" Marisa exclaimed. "I take back what I said earlier, now I see why you're the Ultimate Magician, or Mage. But still, I ain't going to yield just because you got that for you!"

Marisa then took out a spell-card, as she grinned. "I might not have my trusty broom with me, but pulling this spell-card is going to still work the same! Hope you can handle a tackle without toppling, red!" Marisa stated, as she consumed the spell-card as energy. "Declare Spell Card: Magic Sign 'Stardust Reverie'!"

Marisa then charged towards Himiko at full speed, as she was positioned for a shoulder tackle, enveloped in a aura of blue energy, as Himiko tried to block the attack, although it proved to be far too powerful to be simply blocked, as it broke through her magic barrier, and connected with Himiko, sending her flying back. She slowly got up, as Marisa flipped back around, and landed on the ground, on both of her feet.

"How's that? You really felt that one, right?" Marisa smirked, before she then see that Himiko was actually scowling, actually infuriated at her loss.

"Alright, now I'm mad." Himiko growled, before her tome switched pages again, as her staff glowed orange. "I'm going to beat you real bad for this! And I bet that this iconic spell will most definitely pay you back! Meteor!"

From above, a rain of burning meteors, of varying sizes, fell down towards the entire front of the battlefield, as Marisa was shocked to see that there were so many meteors crammed in a relatively small space, as she floated back into the air, as she utilised her own flight speed fully, in order to even have the chance to avoid most of the falling rocks. She was clipped by some of them, as the flames singed her body, and the rock bruised them in addition to the burning, but she managed to make it through the attack fairly well. That is, until she saw that there was a massive meteor, too large for her to dodge.

"Tch...!" Marisa clicked her tongue in annoyance, as she quickly pulled out another spell-card, and consumed it also, as she then placed both hands on the Hakkero. "Declare Spell Card! Love Sign: 'Master Spark'!"

The massive prismatic beam that shot from the Hakkero, managed to stop the meteor in its tracks, although it didn't immediately start breaking the meteor up. Marisa kept the Hakkero held firmly, as the beam continued to wash over the meteor, before it then managed to actually start destroying the large meteor slowly, just barely in time, as the beam died down. Marisa was left letting her arms flop to the sides, exhausted from maintaining the attack long enough to destroy the meteor. However, she didn't notice that Himiko was already preparing another spell.

"Aura!" Himiko chanted, as a large beam of light descended from above, as it struck Marisa, causing him to be slammed down on the ground, with the holy light burning her body deeply with holy might. "This time, I've got you!"

Marisa didn't respond, as she was planted face-first in the ground, and she seemed to be unresponsive for a few moments. Himiko waited for a few moments, as she expected Marisa to rise up again, although that thought changed, when Marisa made no attempt to get up. She then sighed in relief, before she shelved her tome in her magician robe, and lowered her staff as well.

"That was pretty hard... I really had to use a lot of spell to deal with this one. She's quite good as a magician, although I don't know what kind of magic she's using though..." Himiko muttered to herself. "Now then, how can I-"

Suddenly, she felt a tickling sensation around the centre of her chest, as it stopped her mid-sentence, as she looked where the source of the itch was, which seemed to be a inch-wide rainbow laser, that connected to the centre of her chest. She then followed the line, before she saw that it originated from Marisa's Hakkero, which was held with one hand, as Marisa's head was raised, with a triumphant smirk on it.

"Psych." Marisa grinned, before she then slowly moved her other hand over it. "You got me good, but you haven't see my trump card! Declare Last Word! Perversion 'Sure-Fire Master Spark'!"

From the Hakkero itself, another large wide Master Spark was fired, as Himiko tried to escape, although the targeting beam of the Hakkero seemed to have locked her in place, causing her to be momentarily immobile, long enough for the brunt of the Master Spark to hit her full-on. When the beam died down, Himiko was completely unconscious, as her eyes were swirling, and she was letting out a dizzy moan.

Marisa then slowly got up, as she supported herself, using her arm to keep her waist straight, in order to stop her from keeling over. "Heh... Guess you should have tried to finish me there and now." Marisa stated with a amused tone. "Still, I guess that you really thought that did me in there, so I guess that you were a little bit too faithful in your own skill."

She then looked around, as she then walked over to Himiko, and gave her a few pokes to the head, to make sure that Himiko was really down. After she confirmed the fact, she then sighed in relief. "Figures that you wouldn't be able to pull the same trick on me. Don't know about you, but a Master Spark really does someone in." She remarked. "Especially when the full brunt of it hits you straight on. Either way, I'll be sure to meet you one day, and we can properly talk like fellow magicians. Hell, you might actually find a way to get myself a longer life."

She then noticed the door reappearing, as she gave the unconscious Himiko a few pats on the side of her head. "Anyway, take a nice nap. You deserve one for giving me a good fight, Ultimate Mage." She smiled at Himiko, before she then headed through the door, as it disappeared when she entered through it.

* * *

_With Sanae Kochiya..._

Sanae slowly waded out of the door, as she found herself standing atop a large circular ring, which seemed to be made of celestial sparkling energy, which rippled and glowed in various dazzling colours, which slowly changed as time passed. She then looks around, as she could see that the place around here was literally dark space, although the darkness was lit up by countless bright stars, which dotted the entire black sky. She then looked around, as she could see small floating islands, which had various arched gates on them.

"Wait... This place... It looks so familiar..." Sanae exclaimed, before her eyes widened, and her heart fluttered with joy. "Could it be-!?"

She then paced around the large energy-made platform, as she saw that her steps lit up the ground slightly with each step, and she got a closer look around, as she then noticed the bubbling body of energy on the side, which seemed to look like a divine cauldron.

"I'm at the Galaxy Cauldron... Then that means...!" Sanae realised, as she couldn't stop herself from grinning widely.

She then looked around, as she was met by a young college girl, with straight long black hair with a purple shine to it,dark purple eyes, wearing a light gray formal vest with a white short-sleeved sailor uniform with a dark red ribbon tied in the center, gray skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes. She also looked around, curious about where she ended up at.

"Odd, I don't know how I ended up here... It must be a dream, if something like this happened when I have dozed off just recently. This place... It feels like something celestial, like the Castles..." The woman spoke with a fairly calm and collected tone, before she then noticed Sanae, who was looking at her, trembling with joy and excitement, and her lips quivering to contain her own squealing. "Oh... Another shrine maiden...? But how did you end up here-"

"EEEEEE! It's Sailor Mars!" Sanae swooned, unable to control her own fan-girling any further, as she clutched her face, which lit up hard, as Sailor Mars was quite unnerved by Sanae's current expression, as the green-haired shrine maiden continued to squeal for a few moments, not even taking a breath, as she conked herself out quickly, from a lack of oxygen.

After Sailor Mars saw that Sanae was knocked out, she slowly approached Sanae, as the Sailor checked if Sanae was alright, and was fairly relieved, to see that Sanae was fine, as she was breathing quite fine, and she looked like that she would come back to consciousness, given some time.

"What exactly is wrong with her...?" Salior Mars asked herself. "She seemed to act like a crazed fan of mine... But that's odd... It's been fairly a while before we've done any work as Sailor Planets... Could she be some sort of spy for whatever dark forces we will have to fight next...? But she looks like a proper shrine maiden, and she looks so innocent... I doubt that this would be the case with her. I'll give her some time to recover herself, and let her explain it to me first."

Sailor Mars then backed away slightly, as Sanae revived herself, as she sat herself back up, huffing a few times to control herself, her inner fan-girl fully let out. She then raised her head towards Sailor Mars, and gave off a sheepish and embarrassed smile.

"I guess... I should explain what just happened...? And I should first apologise for that. It must have startled you, or made you think of me as some sort of lunatic." Sanae responded back, with a sincere tone. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, it's really embarrassing, but I can't control it, when I see someone like you before me."

"I fully accept your apology, young lady." Sailor Mars smiled back, comforted that Sanae was quite guilty about her crazed behaviour before. "Now then, I do have some things to ask... Care to answer them?"

"Of course, and I can guess what some of them are..." Sanae nodded back, fairly polite and obedient to the Sailor right now.

"May I kindly ask how you know that I'm Sailor Mars?" Sailor Mars asked back. "The people who know what we exactly are, on Earth, are a dozen at most. We're not exactly seeker of fames, and we do our best not to let ourselves become the topic of gossip."

"About that... Well, I can partially explain that..." Sanae frowned back, turning away with a slightly embarrassed expression. "I mean, you girls have been fighting forces of darkness for so long, citizens ought to see and recognise you. How I know that you're Sailor Mars... is the same reason that I have a idea about what your true identity is. And before you ask me, I'm actually part of a world of fantasy, but I'm not one of the bad guys trying to take over the world and ruin people's emotion and lives, so please don't go Super Sailor on me, and turn me into ash..."

"You know about my true identity...!?" Sailor Mars asked, shocked by the news, before she then calmed herself down immediately. "Well, that's going to be a hard thing to process. But you might have someone who has been watching what we have been doing. So it wouldn't be wrong that you might know me, if that observer is acquainted to you in anyway. Which brings me to my next question? Are you really a shrine maiden?"

"Yep, sort of just like you, Mars!" Sanae smiled back. "I'm the lead and sole shrine maiden for the Moriya Shrine in Gensokyo, the world that I came from. I can do real good magic and miracles, like change the weather, create great winds, use the power of the land goddesses of Yasaka and Suwa... I'm pretty good with my work."

"Is that so...?" Sailor Mars asked back, seeing the staff that Sanae was wielding. "Your appearance does firmly fit the role, except I expected that you would use gohei and ofuda."

"Well, that's for Reimu, another shrine maiden and a friend of mine." Sanae explained, before she lifted her staff. "Me, I prefer to use different means of fighting and working my miracles. This staff is tailored as a conduit of local faith, so I can use it to channel magic to create said miracles."

"Fair enough. Now for my last question, hopefully..." Sailor Mars responded back.. "How did you end up here...?"

"Oh that...? That's going to be a real long story, one that I don't think I can explain well..." Sanae sighed, before she perked up. "But I can summarise what is really important for both of us. I came here, because I was sent here to face a trial of my own. Well, not exactly just for me, as this trial is given to everyone in our group of friends... But I was sent here alone. And I'm expected to fight you in a proper battle, and see who wins... Nothing really bad, I promise. Just think of it like a serious spar."

"Hm... That does seem to pose a problem..." Sailor Mars nodded. "I guess that there's not exactly much I can do right now. Hopefully, there might be some way for me to get back as well... All I can tell is that this place is far, far away from Earth, too far for me to fly and travel across without any help. So all I have to do, is just fight you, and then when the victor is decided, we'll be both allowed to go back to where we came from."

"Sort of. I hope that's the case, because I don't want to end up having you stranded her, for such a selfish request." Sanae replied, before her tone turned melancholy. "You know, I always wanted to fight a Sailor Planet like you, Mars... Just so that I could have the pleasure of trading blows with my favourite idols... But when I'm fighting you under these circumstances, it really turns my stomach. I don't want to fight you, just because we're forced too. It'll just make the fight unappealing for either of us. I'm sure that you might blame me at least partially for dragging you into this."

"Actually, no." Sailor Mars smirked. "If that's all you want, then I'm pumped to get in a good fight."

"Wha!?" Sanae exclaimed. "But you were..."

"Well, when you're in Rome, do what the Romans do, as the famous saying goes." Sailor Mars stated. "Besides, seeing you, you seem to remind me of my self quite a lot, in the fact that you're young enough to pass off as a Sailor Planet, if we got you your own Star Power Stick. Not to mention that you know that we're both shrine maidens. So fighting you would be fairly interesting, for the reason that it makes me wonder what kind of fight would result, from two girls sharing similar traits. So if you're in, I'm in."

"Really!? You're going to-!?" Sanae blurted out, as she barely could hold back her tears. "Thank you so much, Sailor Mars! I promise that I really won't disappoint you. We're going to make this fight exhilarating as possible!"

"Glad to hear that then... A good fight gets my blood pumping, and makes me feel the glory of being a Sailor Planet all over again." Sailor Mars smirked. "By the way, you should only call me Sailor Mars when I actually transformed. My actual name is Rei Hino, but I guess that you might have found that out, if you know this much about me already. Hope you're a good fighter, because I'm coming at all with all I got!"

"Trust me..." Sanae smirked back, as she built up her own power, as strong gusts surrounded her. "I'm not one to disappoint people, especially someone like you, Rei!"

Rei then smirked back, as she then held her golden Transformation Pen over herself. "Mars Power, Make Up!" She declared her transformation phrase.

As soon as she finished her incantation, her body began to glow with white light, as long tongues of flame emitted from the Pen and formed fiery rings that passed down over her body. The rings slowly closed down around her, as they formed the parts of her Sailor outfit, now sporting ruby-coloured high-heels, a short red skirt just below her sailor uniform, which didn't change much, white gloves with red sleeves, red star earrings on her ears, and a golden V-shaped tiara on her forehead, a red tear-drop shaped gem on the centre of the bend in the head-gear. She then posed.

"I am the Pretty Guardian Who fights for love and for passion! I am Sailor Mars! In the Name of Mars, I'll chatise you!" Sailor Mars declared, as Sanae was wowed by the performance, before she quickly snapped herself out, and prepared to fight.

Sanae then used her staff to fire off a series of wind projectiles at Sailor Mars, as the Sailor dodged them gracefully, dancing away from the path of the projectiles. She then tried to get up close with Sanae, as she kicked and punched at the shrine maiden, although Sanae dodged some of the attacks, while using her staff to block the others. She then swipes at Sailor Mars with a twist of her staff, forcing the Sailor to back away from her. She then threw a series of magic-filled charms into the air, as they fell towards Sailor Mars.

Sailor Mars, using her ability of precognition, was able to tell that the charms were most definitely dangerous to be even near them, as she backpedalled quickly away from the falling charms, as they exploded into dazzling spheres of burning energy, which then faded away. Sailor Mars then took the chance to prepare an attack of her own, as she pressed both of her index fingers together, as she concentrated hard to gather her power to the fingertips.

"Fire Soul!" Sailor Mars declared, as she fired a large spiralling fireball, that shot towards Sanae. The shrine maiden, noticed the attack, as she quickly conjured up winds to block the ball of fire, although some of the attack pushed through the wind barrier and hit Sanae, causing her to flinch, as she tried to extinguish the Sailor's flames on her.

Sailor Mars then tried to attack Sanae, although her wind barrier was reinforced, stopping the Sailor from attacking the vulnerable shrine-maiden. As soon as Sanae recovered, she pulled out a spell-card.

"Declare Spell Card: Prayer 'Charm of Good Commerce'!" Sanae declared, as she slammed her staff forward, as she fired a straight barrage of pink glowing ofuda, as Sailor Mars quickly put up a guard, as she managed to block the attack fully, although it did knock her back a few feet from the force of the attack.

"I thought that you don't use ofuda?" Sailor Mars questioned Sanae.

"Well, just because I prefer the staff, doesn't mean that I don't use ofuda. I did use the charms earlier well, didn't I? Speaking of that..." Sanae answered back, as she prepared another spell-card. "Here's another heaping of them! Declare Spell Card: Omikuji 'Random Omikuji Barrage'!"

Sanae then threw a series of charms into the air, as they seemed to be filled with even more energy. Noticing that the room for her to evade the attack was little, Sailor Mars used her own agility and cleverness to swerve out of the magic bursts resulting from the explosive charms, as she managed to catch Sanae unguarded again, sending her back with a running kick to the abdomen.

Before Sanae could recover herself, Sailor Mars prepared a ofuda of her own, with four black kanji written on the sides of it, as Sanae realised what the Sailor was doing, although she couldn't react in time to stop the ability from being activated.

"Akuryo Taisan! "Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!"" Sailor Mars declared, as the ofuda burned away, although some sort of force appeared, holding Sanae down, as it grew stronger with each syllable spoken, until she couldn't even move a single inch with all the strength she had.

Sailor Mars then prepared her Fire Soul attack again, although she whipped out another ofuda, as she cast it into the air, before she then charged her attack up.

"Take this! Fire Soul Bird!" Sailor Mars cried, as she fired the same fireball, although this time, the fire-ball struck the ofuda, as the paper charm turned it into a flying bird of fire, which darted at the immobilised Sanae at a even faster speed, and struck her, engulfing her in flames momentarily. She tried her best not to scream from the burning pain, although she began to writhe when the effects of Sailor Mars's binding spells were wearing off.

Sailor Mars looked at Sanae worriedly, as she was concerned that she might have went too far with her combination of attacks, as her Fire Bird Soul was quite strong. Yet she didn't hear Sanae scream in pain at all, which made her feel dread that she could have gravely injured Sanae. She was prepared to rush over and help Sanae out of the flames, before Sanae blew her own flaming body out with a large strong gust, as she looked quite burnt, with parts of her clothes burned off.

"You're really strong and clever, Sailor Mars..." Sanae admitted. "But that only means that I'll have to push myself further to win this battle!"

"Even now, you're not bowing down... You deserve some respect too." Sailor Mars answered back.

"Aw, you're making me blush here. But I won't hold myself back with this one!" Sanae exclaimed, as she prepared another spell card. "This one is something you're not going to have easy time with! Declare Spell Card: Miracle 'Mid-Day Supernova'!"

She then raised her staff, as a large white prickling ball of light appeared over Sailor Mars, as the Sailor raised her head to look at the strange light floating over her. Suddenly, it then burst and fired a barrage of needle-like light projectiles that rained down around Sailor Mars, as she wasn't able to dodge that many attacks, as she was beaten by the light projectiles. She then quickly raised her hand, before she then created a large ring of fire that grew in front of her palm. She the fired it, as the large ring then split into eight smaller counterparts, which then shackled themselves around the ball of light, and simultaneously crushed it to nothing.

At this point, both fighters were approaching their limits. Sanae, with her magic sapping most of her energy, as well as the burning wounds she sustained, and Sailor Mars, with her injuries from Sanae's various spell cards and projectiles. Victory could be decided at a moment there, if they could land a decisive blow on each other, something that both of them knew.

"Well then, I guess that last hit wins the fight, doesn't it...?" Sanae asked Sailor Mars.

"Yeah... I'm quite excited from fighting this hard... After so long..." Sailor Mars answered back. "Go on, hit me with your strongest attack, it's only fair at this point of the fight."

"Well then, don't blame me for taking you up for the offer." Sanae deviously smirked, before she then pulled out one last spell-card, the one she was certain would be able to defeat Mars, if she was able to land it.

At the same time, Sailor Mars conjured a large long-bow, with raven-black wings on the top and bottom of the grip, and the entire bow was burning in flames. She then prepared to aim for Sanae, although Sanae already prepared her spell-card, before she could fire it.

"Declare Spell Card: Sea Opening 'Mose's Miracle'!" Sanae exclaimed, as she then disappeared suddenly, leaving behind several after-images of herself that faded away, shocked Sailor Mars, as she looked around for where Sanae is. She then used her precognition to predict Sanae's attack, as she knew that Sanae was going to stirke from above her, as she looked to the air.

Sanae appeared above her, as she floated in the air for a moment. She then rushed down towards Sailor Mars, who prepared to dodge. However, mid-fall, she threw her golden staff down like a falling javelin, as Sailor Mars instinctively dodged the attack, leaving her vulnerable to Sanae's attack, which she realised too late, when she saw no Sanae holding the golden staff wedged in the ground/

In a final desperate gambit, Sailor Mars attempted to make a close-range shot of the falling Sanae, lifting her head and bow up, as she charged the flaming arrow in between her fingers.

"Mars... Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars declared, letting loose the fiery arrow, that engulfed itself in a large aura of flames. It sped towards Sanae, who noticed the attack, and she then barrel-rolled herself to the side slightly, as the projectile singed Sanae slightly, but she was still falling freely, shocking Sailor Mars. "What!?"

"Sorry, nice try, but I've practised this trick before!" Sanae shouted back at the stunned Sailor., as she pulled out her actual gohei, which was a simple piece of blessed paper attached to her short stick. "Grit your teeth, Mars, this is really going to hurt!"

She then made impact with Mars, as her gohei struck the top of Sailor Mars's head, causing her to bend over greatly, before the force of the impact created a large shockwaves of blue energy, that made the energy-made floor ripple violently in resonance. Mars herself was knocked flying into the air, the force and impact point of the attack, causing her to flip uncontrollably in the air, before she then fell back-first on the ground, fortunately, as she was unable to move for a few moments.

Sanae then let out a relieved sigh, as she slowly got up, and looked over at Sailor Mars, who seemed to be quite done in by her final attack. The Sailor transformation then disappeared, returning Sailor Mars back to her typical self, Rei Hino, although the long-haired girl was groaning in pain.

"Oh my... Ack... That really smarts..." Rei groaned, as she tried to get up, although she was too weak and dazed from the attack to do so herself. "What exactly do they teach shrine maidens like you from where you come from?

"Well, I did say that I represent the Yasaka as well. They're mountain gods, so the connection to proper strength to strike and them should be fairly reasonable." Sanae explained back. "Still... I can't believe that I managed to do it... I beat you in a fair fight... I don't know whether I should be sad or happy about the fact."

"We Sailor Planets work better as a group than alone, so that's not much to brag about." Rei answered back, as Sanae helped her up to a sitting position. "Thank you, now about yourself... Still, I can't believe you really smashed that hard to bring an end to it. You really take these kinds of fights seriously then?

"Of course, can't exactly be gentle when dealing with rowdy spirits and all sort of demons and monsters." Sanae chuckled. "Say, are you going to be alright, Mose's Miracle does a real number on its victims. You seem to be fairly fine, which is rare, but expected with how durable you all are when it comes to taking magic head-on... But i don't want to end up ruining you just for a petty fight."

"Nah... All my bones are fine and accounted for... I'm just simply sore, and that'll pass fast." Rei responded back. "Still, if this is what shrine maidens are capable of, if they put their back on making miracles work... Then I might need to work even harder on my shrine maiden duties from now on."

"Well, I'd imagine that you might be crazy powerful, once you do that." Sanae joked, as both Rei and Sanae laughed together on this, before the door to return Sanae back to where the rest of her group, reappeared. "Well, I guess that it's time for me to go. I'm sure that this is a good experience for both of us, and we've come away each with something we learnt from this."

"Yeah." Rei nodded. "Well then, keep on the good work, you really make being a miko sound like a swell job."

Sanae only smiled back, as she went through the door, and disappeared from the area. When she did, Rei then collapsed back on the ground, arms out.

"Man... I think that this girl is really nice, and quite determined too..." Rei muttered to herself, before she the realised something. "Oh no, I never asked her name! Ah well, I'll still be able to tell, since I got a good look at her... She won't be forgotten for quite a while."


	5. Chapter 4

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 4: Lunar Rabbit vs. Cait Sith, Chi vs. Mantra

* * *

_With Reisen..._

Reisen was slowly walking through the corridors, as she kept notice of her own weapon, on her back, which seemed to be a magitek-created sniper rifle, which had a long barrel, and with a cylinderical holed muzzle brake, like a special-ops sniper rifle, as there was energy veins flowing across the main body of the weapon, with a light-green colour to the energy. She also made her to prepare her own twin hand-guns, in case she was forced into close-combat for what she has to face. She also prepared herself with a few fragmentary grenades, and a flashbang, when she has need for explosive power.

She then made her way through the door, finding herself in a large futuristic room, which seemed to look like it was inside a large facility, or something much larger, as the room was large enough to include several levels of platforms, connected by stairs, and there was railing and cover everywhere she could see, with some of them just short enough to climb on top of them. This seemed to keep Reisen on her toes, as she was very convinced that this was a actual battleground, created for her and her imminent opponent, as she slowly took cover behind one of the taller barriers, as she pulled down her sniper rifle, and powered it up.

As she did so, her enhanced hearing senses managed to pick up the sound of distant footsteps, before it was followed by the sound of mechanical doors whirring open. Reisen then slightly peeked out of cover by the side, just enough to keep herself hidden from the one who just came in. She took a closer look, squinting her eyes slightly, as she saw a young woman with pale blue swaying hair that was casually short, with a single tuft of hair tied up on each side of her forehead, by black muzzle-like hair-bands, and indigo colored eyes. Her combat attire consists of a desert-colored military jacket, bulletproof armor of the same color, and combat boots, as well as a white muffler around her neck, and there was the head accessory on her head, which seemed to look like a metallic version of large cat ears, which were black and pale blue. In her hands is a large sniper-rifle, that seemed to be of a high enough calibre to be armour-piercing at the least, and she also had a small sub-machine gun clipped to her waist.

The newcomer looked around, as she didn't seem to aware that Reisen was there. She does, however, have the same thoughts as Reisen, as she examined the entire room, especially all of the covering spots on her side of the area, as she slowly made her way to cover. However, Reisen sprung into action at that moment, as she slid the rifle up over her eye, and zoomed in on her target, aiming for the head. She then held her breath to steady her aim, before she fired the rifle, as it fired a fairly silent and thin blast of green energy that zoomed through the air.

Her opponent realised what just happened, as she seemed to have noticed the shot coming towards her, although Reisen herself didn't seem to know how she managed to do it, as she dived into the nearest cover immediately, as the projectile hit the floor, leaving behind a thin scorch mark where it landed. Reisen clicked her tongue in annoyance, as she lowered her rifle, and waited for the other sniper to prepare herself, as she peeked out of cover slightly.

Reisen then waited a few moments, before deciding to move to another part of cover, to see if she can get a clear angle to shoot her enemy from. She sprinted across the ground, before she noticed the muzzle flash of the enemy's rifle, as she deftly dodged the bullets coming her way, as they crashed onto the metal ground, leaving behind deep bullet holes, due to the force and calibre of the bullets themselves. This alerted Reisen, who shifted for better cover, as she didn't want to have cover too thin to have the stopping power for the powerful sniper her opponent had.

When she managed to slide behind cover again, she then fired off a few sniper shots, to suppress her enemy, as the laser shots managed to force her opponent to huddle behind cover, unwilling to poke themselves out to even peek, let alone be able to shoot Reisen right now. While her opponent was distracted, Reisen then quickly changed cover again, as she moved closer towards the stairs to take her up to the first level of platforms.

At that moment, her enemy began to move as well, as Reisen tried to shoot her down while she was exposed, although the shots missed as well, as the blue-haired girl danced in and out of cover, making it hard for the purple-haired rabbit girl's shots to even land. Reisen felt like that if she couldn't get an advantage, then they'll eventually be forced to face each other in close-combat, considering how both of them will not be able to snipe each other at all.

Reisen decided to be more aggressive, as she moved between cover more frequently, putting herself at risk, but also helping to get around faster than the opposing sniper, as she managed to get right behind her. Reisen then snapped out with her sniper rifle over her eye, as she fired ruthlessly down. This time, it did manage to land a hit, as the last hit of the series of shot, struck her by the chest, as the laser blast singed her armour slightly. Reisen then snapped back to cover, as she slowly moved towards cover, using the cover around her as protection.

However, her opponent managed to get revenge on that shot, as she fired right towards where Reisen's waist is, as it punched through the thin metal wall that Reisen was running across, as the bullet punched through the metal, and sped towards Reisen's waist, as the bullet dug into her own body armour, almost managing to penetrate it, as the tip of the bullet punched through her flesh, before it was then stopped. Reisen grunted in pain, as she dug the bullet out quickly, before she then stemmed the light prickle of blood that the bullet formed.

"This isn't good... If it managed to do this much, after penetrating through metal and armour... Then a shot from that will most definitely go right through me entirely." Reisen muttered to herself, before she then prepared to fire again, as the other sniper hid back behind cover. She then readied her rifle, as she fired a few times to suppress the enemy sniper again, before she then moved up to another floor, giving her even more of a height advantage, almost enough to snipe across the entire ground floor, and leave the enemy nowhere to hide.

The opponent realised that, as she got out of cover immediately, as she sprinted towards the stairs to the opposing set of platforms, as Reisen tried to stop her, although the agility from her enemy, managed to make all of her shots miss. The blue-haired sniper then made it up to the first floor, as she didn't stop moving, while Reisen tried to stop her by firing her rifle, until the energy clip on it ran dry at last, forcing her to wait for it to recharge. Now vulnerable, Reisen moved out of cover, as she sprinted up to the top floor.

They both reached the top floor, as they were now facing each other at equal height, as the entire floor was connected by several bridges, from the previously isolated sets of platforms on the lower floors. Reisen then finished recharging her rifle for another clip of ammo to shoot with. Reisen kept in mind how many bullets that her opponent fired, which was two, one in retaliation for her first shot, and one that managed to strike her and nearly render her incapacitated in a pool of her own blood. She was sure that there was much more bullets in the weapon clip of her opponent, and thus decided to settle this fairly, as the two of them had nowhere to go, but closer to each other for a close-combat encounter, or around the scattered pieces of cover.

As if they understood the situation, the both of them began to use their cover sparingly, as Reisen tried her best to predict the firing periods of her enemy, as she was sure that the cover here would be too weak to stop her enemy's heavy-duty bullets from punching through it. As for her opponent, she was aware that although her sniper held the advantage in calibre, Reisen's sniper rifle was tailored for rapid fire, which was the reason that she was easily suppressed as Reisen moved around.

After a moment of silence, the two of them entered a frantic trade of sniper-fire, as they evaded each other's shots, forced to aim while moving between their cover, as the opponent's armour was slowly being whittled down, and so was Reisen's options for cover. At that point, with both of them driven to desperation at the situation turning disadvantageous on their side, they quickly rushed towards each other, switching to their side-arms for a close-range battle.

Reisen fired her hand-guns rapidly, as the bullets flew through the air, as her opponent swerved to the side, while firing her sub-machine gun in short bursts, forcing Reisen to fall prone on the ground to avoid the spray of bullets coming her way. She then quickly got up, as she fired another few shots, which forced her opponent behind cover, as she advanced while keeping the enemy behind cover with a series of shots.

She then reloaded her hand-guns quickly, before her enemy jumped out of cover, as she fired her sub-machine gun. Reisen went for a forward slide, as she fired her hand-guns, now close enough to make most of her shots land, as her enemy was slowly brought down, with pieces of her armour broken down by each bullet that struck her. When Reisen was right near her, she then leapt up, and did a round-house kick that sent her opponent flying back slightly.

When her opponent landed, she then tried to get back up, before she was met by the barrel of Reisen's hand-gun, pressing against the front of her head, and looked up to see Reisen's terrifying glare.

"Give up. I have you pinned down, and you won't be able to wriggle out of this one." Reisen coldly told her opponent.

The blue-haired sniper's eyes met with Reisen's own for a moment, as she hesitated for a few moments, before she then released her sub-machine gun, and raised her hands in surrender.

"I never thought that you would be able to beat me like that..." She finally spoke for the first time. "Who exactly are you? You don't exactly look like you're actually from Gun Gale Online. More like you're a character of Alfheim Online..."

"I do not know what you're talking about, but it seems that we have questions for each other." Reisen answered back, as she lowered her hand-gun slightly. "Tell me, who are you then? I'm not exactly a game character."

"You're not...?" The blue-haired sniper asked back, before she sighed. "Well, I'm Asada Shino, or Sinon, as I call myself here. I also have the nickname 'Hecate' for having this sniper rifle of mine, that's really powerful. I'm actually wowed that you got such a good sniper rifle, and you knew how to use it. Not to mention that you were as good with those hand-guns... You'd be a real top player in GGO."

"Perhaps." Reisen nodded. "My name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, but you can just call me Reisen, to make it simple. I'm actually part of a military force, which is why I'm quite experienced with gun-fights. What I had expected was a simulation against a opponent. I didn't expect to find someone that I didn't know. Still, in this simulation, a winner has to be decided, so I had to defeat you."

"That's odd... I felt the same thing as well... There was a special mission that guided me here." Sinon answered back. "Said that if I could beat the special opponent in there, I would get a really big and brilliant bonus. Didn't expect that the special opponent would be someone as hard as you..."

"Well then... I guess I have no point in staying around here." Reisen sighed, before she saw the door back to the main hub reappeared, as she made her way towards it. "Hope that we'll meet again, on better circumstances, Sinon."

Sinon nodded back, as Reisen then disappeared through the door.

* * *

_With Meiling..._

Meiling walked down the corridor, entering a large expanse that was surrounded by rock formations, as she could notice the roaring flames that flickered in the distance around her. She noticed how the rocks looked jagged, and that there were broken chains hanging from the top of the rocks, as she slowly looked around, to see who her opponent was exactly.

After a few moments, her opponent arrived, as Meiling's eyes widened, when she was met with the person, as it was a woman with long, wavy, light brown hair that fades to purple at the top, with hazel eyes. She also wore a black and white dress with long strips of black fabric going across the middle and white fabric across the arms. Along with this dress, she also had a long black cape with red inner linings, and long boots that were wrapped around with white ribbons in a cross-like pattern. In her hands was a large scroll, which was yet to be opened. Her expression seemed to be eerily calm, as she looked at Meiling with eyes filled with tranquillity and calm.

"Hong Meiling." She spoke in a slightly harmonious voice.

"Byakuren Hijiri." Meiling returned the greeting, as they went into silence, after the mention of their own names, as if they had nothing more to say. "...Are you here to fight me then...? It would seem that out of the people, you are still the one that is most fitting to be my desired opponent. I think that we both know the reason why."

"I am well aware of the fact." Byakuren answered back, as she held the scroll in both of her hands, before she then flapped it fully open with a single motion, as the scroll itself was actually made of energy, as it consisted of countless different runes, both Buddhist and of strange origin, as the entire surface of the scroll was a rainbow of colour that slowly transitioned along the length of the parchment. "I will not waste time trying to fight you as I am right now. It would only be truly called a battle, if I truly utilised the full extent of my power, as your trial requires you to face."

She then summoned a spell-card between her fingers. "Declare Spell Card. Superhuman 'Byakuren Hijiri'." She calmly declared, as the spell-card broke into fragments of energy, which were then absorbed by the markings in her large scroll, as it glowed brighter. The saint-like woman then began to chant various mantras under her breath rapidly and clearly, as the scroll's energy began to flow along her entire body, creating a white aura around her. After her final chant was made, she then slammed the scroll closed, before she then dispersed it into energy.

"Now then... Shall we begin our duel, Hong Meiling, Gatekeeper Dragon of the Scarlet Devil Mansion?" Byakuren respectfully asked Meiling.

Meiling lowered herself into a fighting stance, as she breathed deeply to concentrate her chi energy into herself, in order to empower herself. "I wholeheartedly accept your challenge, Byakuren Hijiri, Head Priest of the Myouren Temple." She responded back, with a sharp look in her eyes.

Byakuren gave off a faint smile, before the two of them clashed against each other, as they began to trade blows with each other, as their fists clashed with each other, as the pugilist-like priest was managing to match the dragon martial-arts user blow-to-blow, their power almost equivalent to each other. After a few moments of being unable to land a proper blow at each other, they separated from each other. Meiling was already preparing her next move, as she swirled her arms around, generating yellow chi energy that followed the palm of her hands, she then smashed the energy forward in the form of a impacting wave of energy.

Byakuren noticed the attack, as she stepped back away from the range of the attack, as the force managed to graze her, making her feel the wind generated by the sharp burst of energy. She then moved back, before summoning a golden vajra in her hand, as she then forced a golden blade out of one side, before she then slashed at Meiling with a three-hit combo, which Meiling managed to block, and side-step the last blow, a down-wards smash.

Meiling then noticed the opportunity to counter Byakuren's attack, as she then charged forward, with a rainbow orb in her palm, as she slammed it right into Byakuren, which made her falter slightly, before the dragoness slammed her foot on the ground, creating a massive shockwave of energy that unbalanced Byakuren, allowing Meiling to follow up with a series of hard blows, before she then finished her barrage with a one-inch punch infused with red chi, that sent the priest flying.

Byakuren halted herself mid-air, before her expression tensed a little, before she then flash-stepped out of Meiling's sight, before she then reappeared above Meiling, kicking her with a downwards kick, which dazed Meiling enough for Byakuren to continue with a series of blows of her own, as she aimed for the dragoness's abdomen and chest, before she then threw her vajra forward, as the light blade pierced through Meiling, and the force of the attack sending her flying back.

Meiling slowly got up, as she saw Byakuren summon a ring of onyx-black beads, that floated over where she was, before they crackled with lightning. Predicting the attack to come, she rolled out of the way of the beads, as it summoned a large bolt of lightning where Meiling stood. Meiling then stomped the ground again, creating a large wave of yellow energy that shot towards Byakuren, as she blocked the attack with ease, only to see that Meiling was right onto her. Meiling then jumped up and flipped around , covering her leg with her rainbow chi, and slamming it down on Byakuren, who blocked it with both of her arms. However, Meiling's attack proved to be too powerful for her guard, as the attack managed to hit her right in the centre of her chest, as she crumpled a little as a result. Meiling then wasted no time after landing down, as she smashed Byakuren with a barrage of punches, that assaulted her entire torso, causing Byakuren to be severely winded by the punches.

Byakuren quickly recovered, as she grabbed Meiling, before throwing her back a little. Meiling landed back on her feet, and charged her again, this time going for a straight flying kick. However, Byakuren steeled her own stance, before her eyes glowed white for a moment, sending out a powerful shockwave of energy around her, that hit Meiling, unbalancing her and stopping her attack, as she fell back down. Byakuren then caught Meiling with another of her attacks, as she then hit her with a series of dashing blows, at a speed that was too fast for a normal observer to see.

Meiling fell back down on the ground, as she then recovered back onto her feet. She then noticed that Byakuren was preparing a spell-card for herself, which Meiling did as well, as she was certain that she had a hunch as to what spell-card that Byakuren was going to unleash.

"Declare Spell Card. Heaven Sign 'Master of the Great Trichiliocosm'." Byakuren declared, as she then pulled out her vajra, before she ignited both sides of it into energy blades, before she then threw it towards Meiling. Almost at the same time, Meiling activated her own spell-card, to counter Byakuren's own.

"Declare Spell Card! Color Sign 'Colorful Windchime'!" Meiling shouted, as she then twirled herself into a typhoon of rainbow energy, as the vajra shot towards her, before it then made contact with the colourful torrent of energy, which made it shake slightly, despite the force behind it from Byakuren's throw, before it was knocked flying before it could reach Meiling herself.

Byakuren sighed in disappointment, her attack unable to land, before Meiling got out of her spinning attack, grinding to a halt on her heels. She then faced Byakuren again, before she then snapped another spell-card out, one that made Byakuren pale slightly, as she was aware that Meiling was taking this fight much more seriously, now going to make the battle much more intense for both of them.

"Declare Spell Card! Chi Sign 'Fierce Tiger Energy Release'!" Meiling declared, as a golden aura of chi surrounded her, before she then glared at Byakuren with great force. "Now that I have increased my strength by several-fold... What will you do now, Byakuren...?"

Byakuren didn't respond back, as she then locked her hands into a symbolic stance, with one hand curled into a circle with her index finger and thumb, and her other hand pressing against the waist of that hand. Meiling knew that Byakuren was preparing herself to counter, as she could see the glint of a spell-card forming around her.

"So that's what you decided then..." Meiling answered back, as she slowly walked towards Byakuren, before she then shifted her stance in preparation, as she then cocked back her fist. "Fine... Then we'll see who emerges victorious from this exchange. Your defence, Byakuren, or my own piercing fist."

She then smashed her fist forward with a blast of red energy, that managed to sent Byakuren flying. However, Byakuren herself opened her own eyes, as the eyes turned golden, before she then fired a fan of golden energy that struck Meiling back, sending her back, even in her empowered state, as the two of them were pushed back a great distance from each other.

When both of them recovered from their exchange, they looked at each other once again, as they were aware that at their current state, the battle has reached a decisive phase, where one blow could end the battle if it was powerful enough and connected with their opponent, before the same happened to them first.

Almost simultaneously, they drew their respective spell-cards, before they then crushed it, while declaring their spell-cards at the same time.

"Declare Spell Card! 'Angirasa Veda'! / Declare Spell Card! Brilliance 'Rainbow Brilliance Palm'!" Byakuren and Meiling respectively chanted at the same time.

Byakuren then charged forward, as her signature butterfly-like sunset-coloured lotus emblem, as energy gathered on the tip of each end, as it fired off golden beams at Meiling, while the priest herself was engulfed in a aura of golden energy. Meiling herself, held her left palm up, as there was a chaotic amount of rainbow chi energy on it, that left a blazing trail wherever it went. Meiling dodged the beams coming her way, although she grazed them quite closely, that it managed to singe her body, and yet she was unfazed in her charge.

The two fighters collided with each other, as Byakuren was surrounded by the rainbow-coloured burst, which exploded, causing her to stop to a halt. Meiling also slowed down, as her palm was still pointed outwards. Neither of them were moving, and their breathing came almost to a halt, the only sound around them, was the light crackling of the flames around their battlefield.

And after a few seconds elapsed, Meiling fell to a knee, while Byakuren herself, collapsed, as the lotus emblem before her cracked quickly, before it then shattered into thousands of orange particles of mantra energy, which dissipated away. The two of them took their moment to recover, as Byakuren barely had the energy to tilt her head to the side, as she was fairly weak from the fight.

"It seems that... the battle has been decided." Meiling answered back quietly, barely audible to Byakuren. "For a pugilist with the power of the mantra... You fought extremely well... But in the end, as a dragon with thousands of years of chi cultivation, and ancient martial art techniques... I energy victorious."

"So you have..." Byakuren smiled weakly back, her voice as weak as her physical state. "Even if it would be foolish to challenge someone who is extremely superior in physical combat... I must still test you the same... I apologise, if I haven't provided you with the challenge needed... You are a fairly extraordinary existence, even among Gensokyo itself..."

"No, Byakuren, you have fought well here." Meiling shook her head gently, with a kind tone. "You have left me forced to use a great portion of my power. And my chances of losing this fight are not as low as it seems. I did notice that your power did increase gradually during the fight, as a side-effect of your spellcard. Had I dragged it out, you would have gotten a good chance of defeating me, even if I unleashed the Fierce Tiger Energy Release."

"I see... So that's why..." Byakuren chuckled lightly, before she slowly slumped into unconsciousness.

Meiling saw the door appear in front of her, as she slowly stood up, before stepping towards the door, not too quickly, as to agitate her own injuries from the fight itself.


	6. Chapter 5

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 5: Two Fates Clash, Shepherd vs. Redeemer (Fredrick)

* * *

_With Corrin..._

Corrin strode through the doors, as it took her to the middle of a large plain, with the skies above her covered entirely by grey clouds, as she was a little bit tense, as she felt like that she stumbled back onto a battlefield, where her opponent could be anywhere, as she looked around slowly, expecting to find her opponent quickly.

She then gave the area around her another look, before she could see a figure approaching her, causing her to turn towards them swiftly, with her blade held firmly in her hands. She looked closely, as she noticed that the figure before her, was a man with short dark-blue hair, and blue eyes, wearing a large dark-brown leather cape that seemed to like like a parted trench-coat, a soot-grey robe that had salmon-pink pattering near the collar, metallic gauntlets with elbow-guards, a dark metal abdominal guard, with a golden bucket on the centre of its front, with a dagger placed in a blue sheath on one side. He also wore metal knee-guards, and he wore smooth leather boots on his feet.

When Corrin saw the expression on his face, which was filled with evident indifference, she was a little bit unnerved, as it looked like that he was someone quite formidable, or dangerous, even both if she was unfortunate. However, she decided to speak with her future opponent for a moment, expecting to see if she could get to know him a little bit.

"Hello...? Are you..." Corrin asked back with a slightly meek tone, as his eyes met with hers, as they were lacking in emotion.

"Tell me who you are first." He responded back firmly. "You don't seem like that you are from these lands, with that attire of yours."

"I... I am Corrin de Nohr." Corrin answered back. "I am of royalty from the kingdom of Nohr. I also bear the title of being the heiress to the throne of a nation that I am not sure it would be safe to speak the name of yet."

"Hm." The blue-haired stranger hummed in response, before he then responded back. "I see. My name is Byleth Eisner. I am one of the instructors of the Garreg Mach Monastery. I currently am doing duties of teaching students of each of the three houses there, although it would be more clearer to say that I am serving directly under Lady Rhea."

"An instructor...? How amazing." Corrin answered back, as she smiled a little. "I myself am a student myself. I was taught most of the things I have known, by a young person who looks almost the same age as you do right now. He actually shares a few qualities like you, like the quiet and calm disposition, so I think that the two of you might get along well."

Byleth nodded back, before he then spoke again. "Right then, Corrin...? May I ask you a question?" Byleth asked her gently.

"Please do, I'm sure that I won't mind answering a few questions." Corrin answered back with a welcoming smile.

"I would like to ask you who you exactly are. Not that I am accusing you of lying on what you said previously, but I feel like that there is more to you than meets the eye." Byleth answered back. "Tell me, are you a Saint? Because I seem to be able to sense the energy of a dragon within you."

"You do...!? I don't know exactly what you mean by a Saint, but I do have the blood of dragons within me." Corrin exclaimed, before she then placed a hand over her heart. "Although I only tend to use the power of that blood when I most need it. Usually, I only use partial transformations, to ensure that I don't end up being consumed by the instincts of my transformed state, and to help ensure that I have versatility in my own attacks."

"That does not seem like a Saint at all." Byleth stated. "Regardless... It is quite amazing to meet someone foreign to these lands, who has the power of dragons. I heard that Seiros was a dragon before, so I assumed that you would be like that as well. Still, you are quite interesting."

"I am grateful for your compliments." Corrin answered back sheepishly, embarrassed from the praise.

"Now then... There is one thing that I ask of you." Byleth stated, before he then drew his weapon, which seemed to look like a blade made of bone, with a toothed hilt, and a large hole in the centre of the hilt. "May I ask, if I could have a spar with you? A friendly one, if it wouldn't trouble you much."

"Why exactly?" Corrin asked, as she was curious for the reason why Byleth would want to have a fight with her.

"As an instructor, it is my duty to teach my students well, and to do that, I must grow stronger myself, to be able to continue their education and growth." Byleth answered back. "Judging from the uniqueness of your own blade, the dragon's blood that flows in your veins, and your posture when you prepared for a fight earlier, before I came... It tells me that you are quite strong. So I want to see if I can learn some things from fighting you."

"A desire to improve... Perhaps you share more in common with that friend then." Corrin smiled, before she then drew her weapon. "Very well then, we will spar until one of us cries forfeit, or we draw blood from each other. Hopefully, we will not have to resort to the latter. I wouldn't want to fight to the point that we would be dealing potentially lethal blows."

"Do not worry, I'm sure that we both have enough restraint to keep this spar relatively bloodless." Byleth assured Corrin. "Now then, are you prepared?"

"Only if you are." Corrin responded back, determined.

"I like your spirit." Byleth smiled slightly, before the two of them stepped forward and clashed against each other, as their blades were evenly matched. "Strong... Exactly as predicted."

The two of them separated, before Corrin then moved forward, as she tried to attack Byleth with his blade, going for a few high and low slashes. With his blade, Byleth managed to block most of the attacks. He then smashed his sword down, hoping to strike Corrin with a counter-blow. However, Corrin dodged out the path of his attack.

Byleth then moved towards Corrin, his turn to take the offensive, as he slashes rapidly to leave Corrin with little chance to avoid the quick blows, although they didn't do much against her guard, before she then tried for a low kick to trip up the instructor, only to fail when Byleth retreated back away from her.

The two of them then exchanged blows, although it was at a stalemate for them, as neither of them were able to land a solid hit from each other, due to them easily blocking any soft and quick attacks, and evading the more heavier ones. They don't seem to be exhausted, although they would be, if this deadlock were to drag out.

"Looks like I'm going to have to step it up." Byleth answered back, before his hair then glowed luminescent green, shocking Corrin, as his blade began to glow as well in a orange hue. Suddenly, the parts of the blade itself began to separate, as it transformed into a bladed whip, with blades segments tied by some sort of durable string. "Take this!"

He then swung the whip-blade around, striking from different directions, as Corrin was unable to try any counters, with how far Byleth was attacking, far enough for her to be unable to attack back. She tried to evade the whip-blade, although it managed to catch her off guard a few times, as it dented and scratched through her personal armour.

"Damnit... I'm not holding back either!" Corrin cursed, before she then transformed her arm and head. "Take this!"

She then fired a charged Dragon Pulse at Byleth, who did not expect the sudden attack, as the attack managed to hit him, stunning him in place, as Corrin then slashed on him a few times, before the stunning effect wore off, and Corrin dodged backwards, to avoid being smashed by the whip-blade's downward strike. Byleth then reverted his sword back to its proper form, although the glow didn't fade, as he arched back, with the tip of the blade glowing.

"Allow me to demonstrate! Astra!" Byleth declared, before he then darted towards Corrin.

"Astra...!?" Corrin exclaimed, shocked that Byleth could use Astra as well, before she growled and repeated the same stance, as she returned Byleth's skill with her own version of Astra.

As the two different forms of Astra clashes, blows were rained upon in quick succession, as their blades clanged against each so many times that it was a wonder that their blades would still be in good shape after they have stopped each other. Yet, their blades looked no worse than they were before, no matter how many times the blades were brutally smashed against each other. After their stamina waned, they then separated, looking quite exhausted.

"How did you..." Byleth remarked.

"Like I told you, my teacher taught me many things... Astra was something hard to do, but we managed to learn it together..." Corrin huffed back. "Still, I'm surprised that there's still the Astra technique around here."

"Well, it's truly hard to perform... Only means that you are quite skilled." Byleth admitted, before he then shifted his weapon back into whip-blade form. "Now then, we'll settle this with one final strike. Are you prepared to stake it all?"

"...Of course." Corrin answered back, as she then concentrated her power, as she felt her own power and spirit grow yet stronger, before she then prepared herself. "Let's settle this, Byleth!"

The two of them let out a war-cry, as Corrin ran towards Byleth, with her blade poised for a downwards strike. Byleth, held the blade in his hands firmly, as it glowed even brighter, before he then slashed through the air with it.

"Raptured Heaven!" Byleth declared, as the blade cut streaks of energy into the air, as Corrin managed to avoid most of the attack, although one of it did land on her, hurting her, but not stopping her advance. She then jumped into the air, as she made sure the blade is raised to the skies above. Much to Byleth's surprise, the grey clouds parted slightly, creating a ray of sunlight that reached her dark-coloured blade, causing it to glow white.

"Take this! Sol!" Corrin cried, before she then brought the glowing blade down on Byleth, as he didn't manage to guard it in time, as the strike was enough to floor Byleth on the ground, as he was crumpled from the great blow that he received.

"...Sol... Now that's a skill I have never heard of... Borrowing power from the sun itself... It is quite powerful indeed." Byleth commented, before he then saw the white light wash over Corrin's body, healing some of her wounds. "...What?"

"The power of the skill known as Sol, is to reignite one's life-force." Corrin explained. "It turns the sunlight's power, after it has been used, into healing energy for yourself. People envy this skill, for it makes it hard for one to kill someone who can perform it easily."

"Indeed, a terrifying thought... I suppose that this is my defeat then." Byleth nodded, before he then chuckled lightly. "But indeed, I have learnt many things fighting you. Perhaps I might find a way to learn this Sol technique for myself then...?"

"I hope for your success then." Corrin answered back with a warm smile, before she then saw the door form behind her. "Oh... It seems that I am needed back where I came from.

"Wait... A magic door... Who are you exactly, Corrin de Nohr?" Byleth asked Corrin hastily.

"Like I said, I'm a noble heiress to two kingdoms..." Corrin answered back, walking towards the door, before then turning back with a prideful smile on her lips. "And I'm also a great hero, who ventures to the beyond."

With that, Corrin passed through the door, while closed and faded behind her, leaving a bewildered Byleth on the ground.

* * *

_With Gunter..._

Gunter proceeded through the corridors, as his trusty lance was mounted on his back, and in his hands was a refined short-sword, which he would use in battles on foot. He did not seem to be trusting of the strange appearance of the entire facility, and he was quite worried for the one that he serves, Corrin, about the fact that Corrin might be in great trouble without him. However, he doesn't let his loyalty to her waver, as he believes that she is more than powerful enough to handle fights on her own.

He then proceeded through the doors, as he found himself in a large grassy plain, with tall stalks of grass as far the eye can see, although the grass was more of a golden wheaty colour, which piqued his interest slightly, but not as much as the fact, when he found his own personal steed nearby, as it snorted gently, and swayed lightly from where it stood.

"My own personal mount... here...?" Gunter asked himself, before he then approached it, examining it closely. "Hm... If this is a replica or illusion of some sort, then I must admit that this is well-done. From what I can see, it doesn't seem any different to the real one. Perhaps..."

He then mounted the horse slowly, as it acknowledged the knight with a brief look, before it then snorted back. Gunter smiled a little, recognising the expression, as it reinforced his belief that this was his horse. He then guided it slowly through the plains, as it trotted without any sway in its steps.

"..But why would I require my horse to proceed to my trial...? The man known as DW would be well aware of my expertise as a master knight... So perhaps, he will pit another one against me?" Gunter wondered.

His question was answered, when he heard another set of horse hooves clopping over, as another knight entered the area, as the rider was a man with short brown hair, clad in cyan-and white segmented armour, that seemed to look fairly symbolic, with the elk-like shoulder-plates, and the diamond guard between his breasts, and blue latches on the front of his knees. His brown eyes locked with Gunter, with a serious expression them, as he already had his lance drawn out for battle.

"Just as I thought..." Gunter muttered to himself.

"You are a stranger to these lands." The man spoke clearly in response, before raising his weapon slightly. "I know not what reason you have come here, but I do know that you are very much suspect, with that suspicious appearance of yours."

"You mean the dark black armour that my mount and I wear?" Gunter asked back, before he then shook his head gently. "You misunderstand. Although my appearance proves otherwise, I am no longer a knight of darkness. This armour is merely forged as a symbol of my own kingdom."

"Even so, this is not the place for you to be." The man answered back. "Leave at once, or I will drive you away with force, if needed be. And I will show no mercy."

"I'm afraid that I cannot leave." Gunter firmly answered back, pulling his lance out. "Although I do not wish for us to come to blows for this matter... I have no way to return, until I have proven myself worthy. And to do that, I am brought here to fight what would be my opponent. Since you stand here before me... I must apologise for what I must do, but I ask that you do not hate me for what I will do, as it is what is necessary for me."

"Hmph. Upfront with your intentions then?" The man scoffed back, with narrowed eyes. "I'll tell you that you will not win this fight. Even if you speak the truth, I will not hesitate to strike you down, in this land, where there are many threats in and out of one's eyes."

"You'll find that I am no simple opponent, stranger." Gunter retorted back. "I have spent decades serving my own kingdom, and protecting the heirs of the kingdom countless times. Although age may leave me weakened, it cannot sap away much of my own skill. So I implore that you take this fight seriously."

"Fine then. Your wish will be respectfully granted." The knight responded back, raising his lance fully up for battle.

"Before we begin... May I ask of your name, honoured opponent?" Gunter asked.

"The name is Frederick, member of the Shepherds." Frederick introduced himself.

"Very well, Frederick. You face Gunter Blackmire, lead knight of Nohr's knight brigades." Gunter responded back boldly, before then raising his lance for battle. "Let us fight until victory smiles upon one of us."

With a cry from both of them, their horses rushed forth, as they pointed their lances towards each other, scoring grazing hits from each other in the exchange, passing by each other. They turned their horses around, as Frederick was taken aback by the strength that Gunter had, in that elderly appearance of his, as it made the Shepherd respect Gunter a little bit, for that fact.

They then charged against each other several times in successions, as their clashes managed to deal equal amounts of damage from each other, as the lances were strong enough to damage each other's armour. A few more rounds of jousting each other at fast speeds, and their armour began to show signs of damage, as holes began to appear, and pieces of armour that were dangling by the thread, were jostled off, exposing more and more of their unprotected body.

"It seems that we're at a stalemate from each other." Gunter noted, before he then raised his lance. "I believe that we should determine a victor quick. With the force behind our lances, if we were to pierce through an unprotected area, it would be enough to penetrate and skewer organs at this rate."

"And yet you are no less determined to end this, rather than forfeit this fight." Frederick noted. "You said that you served your kingdom."

"With utmost loyalty." Gunter responded back. "I once have tried to betray it, and failed. I awaited death for my own crimes, so that I could die repaying everything I have done to my own kingdom. However, I was spared, on the grounds that I must redeem myself, by keeping on the true way and fighting for it. That is, I would never stray from my path again, and protect the heir until the end of my life. Even now, the duty remains."

"I see..." Frederick murmured in response. "You were once disloyal, but you were enlightened when you were spared, making you fiercely loyal. As much as I would disdain betrayal and disloyalty, from your eyes alone, and your tone in speaking of your past crimes... You are genuine in your quest for redemption. I can only say that I have no reason to judge you as someone undeserving of a second chance, if you have retained your honour and respect."

"I merely re-learnt them, after I have briefly turned my back on them." Gunter answered back, before he then raised his lance. "But I believe that I have babbled long enough. Shall we?"

"With pleasure." Frederick responded back, preparing himself for another charge.

Both horses faced each other, as they stamped at the ground, preparing for a mighty charge, before they then shot off at great speeds. The riders' lances were being coated with a serene purple energy, which spread through their lances, as they were concentrated on landing their blow on their opponent. At range of each other, they simultaneously thrust their lance forward.

"LUNA!" Gunter and Frederick cried at the same time, their blows finding their target, as Frederick's lance smashed into Gunter's chest, and Gunter's lance did the same towards Frederick's abdomen. Both blows managed to smash through the armour like nothing, barely inches away from creating a large stab-hole where the blows landed.

They were hit so strongly, that they could barely remain seated on their mount, as they scrambled to get themselves re-balanced immediately. When their mounts came to a halt, they examined each other, as the enhanced blows tore holes in their armour, and the lances left some prickles of blood where the tip had jabbed into their skin.

"Luna... How coincidental... That we would use the same skill on each other, right on this exchange." Gunter sighed, before he then un-clipped his broken chest-plate. "I suppose that this is where we shall end it then?"

"Strong you may be, your bones would be frail by the ravages of time, and the battles wearing your strained body down further." Frederick stated, also ditching his broken chest-plate. "I suppose that we should agree to call this battle a draw, as we have both managed to force each other into surrender."

"I would agree." Gunter answered back, before he then dismounted from the horse. "Seeing you clash with me... It reminds me of times when I was far younger and far more bold than I am right now. You seem to remind me of myself quite a lot."

"And you expect that to surprise me?" Frederick asked back. "I do not truly care much, if this fight has made you recall some of your past memories, but since our fight ended with a satisfactory conclusion, will you be leaving?"

"I hope so..." Gunter trailed off, before he then noticed the door reappeared. "Hm. Strange, but still welcome. It is indeed my time to leave."

"And I suppose that you will never return to this land again...?" Frederick asked back.

"...No." Gunter sighed back, taking his broken chest-plate, and his lance with him to the door. "I suppose that this brief exchange will be all that will happen to us for now, unless destiny and fate itself calls for us to meet each other again. In that case, I would be truly glad to fight by your side, Frederick of the Shepherds."

"...Perhaps we will." Frederick nodded, before Gunter then entered the door, which vanished. "I sincerely hope that this does not result in complicated events developing, just from this single encounter."


	7. Chapter 6

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 6: Wolfskin vs. Kitsune, Duke vs. Lord

* * *

_With Velouria..._

The wolf-girl slowly made her way through the corridors, as she was quite pumped up to fight in all honesty, as she wonders what kind of opponent she would face, before she then passed through the door.

She found herself in a coliseum that seemed to be quite familiar, with the stands and the banners of Nohr and Hoshido draped everywhere, the ground made of tough earth, as she slowly paced forward, as she was standing right in front of one of the ground entrances to the arena itself. She looked around, as she too in the view of the place around her.

"Huh... Never thought that I would find myself in this sort of place again..." Velouria remarked. "It was quite fun fighting in the arena. Wonder what kind of person they would put me up against. Whoever they are... They're going to be torn to pieces by me, even if the worst I can do to them is leave them slumped over bleeding."

"Hehehe... You really are always the same, Velouria!" A peppy female voice was heard, as Velouria recognised the voice immediately, quickly turning to the speaker themselves.

Right before her, was a young girl with short golden hair and fur, with fox ears filled with white fluff, and a golden white-tipped fox-tail behind her, that was swaying gently, and yellow eyes filled with cheerful and energetic spirit. She was dressed in a furry tiger coat, with a long blue hakama, with a black symbol made of diamonds, inscribed on one leg, red geta and tabi on her feet, as well as a purple and white shimenawa on her back, tied into a bow with blue cloth on the ends, and there was a large naginata tied to her back.

"Selkie?" Velouria asked back, with genuine curiosity.

"Aha, that's right!" Selkie cheerfully stated, smiling brightly. "You still remember me, Velouria! I'm so happy that we're able to meet each other again, after so long! Aren't you supposed to be back at Gensokyo?"

"Well, at least now I know that you're THAT Selkie, not the one I have to deal with back home." Velouria sighed, with a faint smile that she tried her best to hide from the fox-girl. "You're fairly better, but by not much. You're both too pushy towards me, but at least you're able to do a lot more, and actually try to take things slowly, so that I won't have to be blasted by your overly cheerful attitude each time we meet."

"Mou... You can't just say that, Velouria..." Selkie pouted, with a mock hurt expression. "Don't you like to be around me as well? After all, you never did try to drive me away."

"Fair." Velouria simply stated, before she then drew her claws. "I suppose that you're here to have a play-fight with me? Or are you here just to talk to me?"

"Both!" Selkie exclaimed. "I wanna know how much you have been doing with Richard! I wanna know what you have been doing all this time we haven't seen each other!"

"Well, there isn't much." Velouria answered back. "But recently, I been through a lot of crap, like really grim crap that makes the war back where we came from, seem like a mere squabble, and there was a lot of demons, all far worse than the Faceless. But as you might expect, we handed their asses to them, and I even got to enjoy myself a little. You could say that I had much fun there, and not for the reasons you may like. Just a word of advice, if you want to ask about going there, Don't. Take it from someone who actually spends her time raiding and fighting."

"Aw... But I wanted to know if there are any fun places to go to..." Selkie pouted. "So far, Siege really doesn't take me out as much as he used to, since he had a lot of things to deal with... And although there is a lot of friends to play with, when I'm still in the Hall of Origin... I really miss playing with you."

"I'm touched. No, really. I am." Velouria deviously smirked back. "Well then, you want to play, then you better not go easy on me. Because I won't, and you don't want to get hurt just because you wanted to spare my feelings. I'm not that kind."

"Don't worry, I'm really going to give it my all!" Selkie exclaimed, before she then grinned back with determination, spinning her naginata around, before then pointing it at Velouria. "Now then, let's play pretend with the Wolfskin vs. Kitsune scenario! The dark and broody wolfskin, against the bright and peppy kitsune! Who will emerge victorious! Let's find out!"

Velouria's grin grew wider, before she then rushed at Selkie, with her claws raised, as she swung them down on the kitsune, who deftly raised her naginata in defence, as the pole managed to block the slicing weapons. They pushed against each other for a while, before Velouria went for a flip-kick, that knocked Selkie's naginata upwards, before she then tried to slash at the fox-girl again. However, Selkie used the momentum to her advantage, as she swung the weapon around, and smacked Velouria under the chin with it, causing him to choke on her own saliva from the sudden blow, and stopping her attack cold in its tracks.

Selkie then reversed the direction of the naginata's spin, in order to bring the blade down onto Velouria, only for the wolfskin to dodge to the side to avoid the attack. She then followed up with a series of wide swings and quick thrusts, which Velouria was forced to parry or dodge. Velouria tried to counter amidst the series of attacks, but Selkie stopped her from trying, with a twist of her pole to knock the claws away.

However, Velouria knew that Selkie could only keep swinging for so long, as she waited for Selkie to stop her assault, before she made one of her own, as her claws sprung onto the kitsune with ruthless efficiency and speed. Selkie was having a hard time blocking all of these blows, as her weapon was being knocked around with the various strikes that Velouria was doing, before Velouria managed to finally land a grazing blow on her, as the claws scraped against her fabric clothing, eliciting a yelp from the kitsune.

"Almost had you there!" Velouria exclaimed. "Come on, you wanted to prove who's the best! You don't have the stamina to keep up with me!"

"No... But I do have a lot of skill with my weapon!" Selkie retorted back, before she then spun the naginata around, as she aimed the blade at Velouria's waist. The wolfskin was surprised at how fast the blow came, as she was actually hit by the blade, although it only pierced through her armour.

"Damn sly fox... You won't get away with that one!" Velouria roared, before she then swung her claws down with inhuman might, knocking Selkie's naginata down. She then followed up with a swipe that she followed through with her body, as she managed to cut through the fabric and leather of Selkie's armour, and managing to draw some blood. "How's that!"

"Not fair... You're too mean, Velouria! I'm going to really punish you for that!" Selkie growled back, looking fairly miffed at the wolfskin, as she slammed the flat end of the blade against Velouria's forehead, dazing her, before she then thrust the weapon towards her stomach, as it made a huge hole through the armour, and the blade managed to cut through her belly's flesh, leaving behind a small bleeding gash. Selkie then pulled the naginata out, as she seemed to be quite satisfied for her payback. "Now you know how rough I can play!"

"Tch... You really like to take games like these seriously..." Velouria chuckled, while in pain with her abdomen wound. "As much as I love to have us transform and make this an actual fight, I rather we settle this as we are. We're not just instinctual beasts, now, are we?"

"Hear, hear!" Selkie exclaimed back with joy, as she seemed to be fairly undisturbed by her own wounds. "Now then, let's settle this!"

"I was thinking the same thing! You ready to get yourself torn to shreds by my claws?" Velouria growled, as a dark purple aura appeared around her. "Because I'm really heated up right now, and I'm going to let all these tension, all this bloodlust in me, into a concentrated strike to end this!"

"Cool! I'm going to do the same, although I'm not going to be as dark and brooding as you, Velouria!" Selkie exclaimed, before a shining golden aura emanated all over her. "I'm going to focus on the positive, and put all this energy and determination! I'm going to win this one for sure!"

Both of the girls, who were rallied in their own manner, charged at each other, letting out war-cries, as their attacks collided with each other, with enough force to cause a massive shockwave to be created from their clash. Standing past each other, at the end of their attacking paths, they remained in silence, as if they were waiting for something, or their attacks sapped the last of their strength to move.

Soon, the auras over the two girls bearing animalistic features faded away, as they fell onto their knees, looking relatively unscathed, despite all of the force put into their attacks, which made it seem as if the auras formed from their spirit stopped each other's attacks from dealing physical harm.

"Hah... Hah..." Velouria huffed. "Oh geez... This is really the worst way to end this... I can't believe that we couldn't beat each other. So much for determining who's the victor of this fight..."

"I'm tired too... I don't wanna play this anymore... It's really starting to hurt bad..." Selkie groaned with a unhappy expression. "I guess that means that you're going to forfeit, right Velouria?"

"You muddled in the head, you damn fox!?" Velouria exclaimed. "Just because I'm tired, doesn't mean that I won't fight to win. Please, that wound you gave me was nothing at all compared to what I have to take, each time I'm stuck with a mission with that reckless leader of mine! YOU give up, I'm not going to lose this fight, just to spare your feelings. You wanted this fight, you finish it."

"Velouria... So mean..." Selkie pouted again, with stinging tears on the corner of her eyes. "Fine... You win... But did you at least have some fun? I'm sure that you really enjoyed this fight."

"And the thing is, you're not exactly wrong." Velouria answered back. "Beating you with all I got, is kind of therapeutic in a way. Guess it's has the same relaxing effect when I look over my collection of all sorts of 'treasures' and shiny stuff. After all, that's my one and only hobby, other than having to fight all these bastards in the way of my friends."

"Hahaha..." Selkie laughed heartily. "I'm pleased that I've done a lot for you, Velouria. After all, since we've been away from each other for so long... I guess this makes us caught up with each other right now?"

"...Yeah." Velouria answered back, before she then saw the door form in front of her. "Anyway, although I love to stay with you a little more, I got other things to do, and my friends need me right now. So if we bump into each other again... I'm sure that we'll do some more playing. But no more of this fighting game. You don't want our leaders to see us bleeding ourselves out, right?"

"Mhm, kitsune's word!" Selkie swore with a hand gesture, and a serious tone and expression.

Velouria let out a simple 'Heh.', before she then entered the door, and disappeared from the arena.

* * *

_With Virion..._

Virion slowly made his way to the door, before he found himself inside a large barren plateau, with little greenery, as he looked around for anything of interest, only seeing the various cliffs around him. As he looked around, he was curious about the place, as it didn't seem to be familiar to him at all, despite of his knowledge of many places.

As he was left thinking, he was eventually met by someone, who seemed to be patient enough to wait for the blue-haired archer to finish looking around, before he then finished looking around, and his eyes then met with the person. Right before him, was a man with green eyes, and dark-brown hair that seemed to have some parts of it creased into a bent shape. The man was also clad in a thick and baggy armour for himself, which was in beige colour, and seemed to be made of thick material like leather and durable fabric, with a woven fabric sash around his waist, made of yellow and black patterning, with one end sticking out, that had a jewelled charm attached to it. He also wore a yellow cape, which seemed to be attached to his shoulder from his left side, under a golden shoulder-plate, while the other shoulder bore a black cloth that bore a shielded crest that Virion was not familiar with, but knew that it represented an faction. He also wore black gloves and boots, and he had a bow that seemed to be made of ancient bone, with spikes along the length of the bow itself, and a round slot over the arrow rest, which had a large spherical object stuck in it.

"Hey. You look a little lost around here." The man spoke to Virion, before he then lowered his bow with a disarming smile. "You looking for a way out of here?"

"...Not quite." Virion shook his head gently. "I'm actually looking for my opponent. I was brought here by a strange power, in order to see if I am worthy of success, by defeating the one who would challenge me in turn."

"Huh. That sounds quite peculiar, don't you think?" The man asked back, before he tilted his head slightly. "Name's Claude. Claude von Riegan of House Riegan, and current leader of the Leicester Alliance. Funny enough, you wouldn't expect someone like me to be wandering places like this, but I'm a bit of a free spirit, you see."

"You are quite intriguing, Claude." Virion admitted. "My name is Virion Altreni, duke of Rosanne, a humble country in the land of Valm. Strangely, I have never heard of any talk of your house, or the alliance that you have stated. But then again, I am far from my own lands, so I don't expect someone like you to know about the lands I hail from."

"Yeah, you're fairly right on that." Claude nodded. "By the way, you didn't exactly answer my question earlier."

"About the event being peculiar... Yes, I do harbour my doubts about it, but agonising over the matter is not exactly going to help me at all." Virion answered back. "If you suspect me, then you have fair right to do so. I have no reason to hide anything from you, lest I be cut down for my resistance and deceit. Perjury is also not a smart choice now, as I can see that sharp look in your eyes, which seem to be carefully examining myself and my words."

"Huh, pretty smart of you." Claude answered back with a nod. "I never thought that you would be able to catch that part of me, right on the first time we met. Either you're fairly paranoid about meeting new people, or you got a good judge of character. Well, I won't lie, I was actually seeing how you would respond to me, since right now, the world is a little bit messed up these days, what with all of the war happening between the Kingdom of Fareghus and the Adrestian Empire."

"Is that so?" Virion asked back. "I'm sorry for being fairly suspicious about you, since I don't know who I'm facing right now. With a person like you, I could expect arrows from anywhere and at any time. Either way, I did my fair bit of studying up tactics and knowing my various enemies fairly thoroughly, as much as I practice my own mastery with the bow."

"Then I guess that this is going to be a fight that could go either way." Claude smiled back, confusing Virion.

"What...?" Virion asked, before he then saw that Claude was reaching for his bow, as Virion did the same, with both of them lifting their bow up, arrow nocked at the ready. "You were my opponent all along, and you sought to distract me with words."

"Well, I'm a lord in war. All's fair in love and war, so people say." Claude smirked back. "I was hoping that this was going to be an easy fight, and I was just about to drive a few arrows to keep you down, not kill you, since I rather not kill unless I must, after we finished chatting. But finding that you're a fairly good archer, makes me want to pit myself against you, for the sole fact that I want to see a real master on archery in action against me on a fight."

"I'll be glad to oblige." Virion answered back. "You wouldn't hesitate to use tactics that are frowned upon in general war conventions, which makes you fairly dangerous and unpredictable... I never expect that I would meet a person who takes a different path to tactics than myself, and be skilled at it, like one of my friends."

"Don't get me wrong, I genuinely said all that talk before, to get to know you a little, and see what you're like." Claude answered back. "No hard feelings, but I knew that we're going to fight right here and now, and I wasn't sure of my odds against you, until I have discerned it myself."

"Hmph. A slight advantage that is fairly minimal." Virion answered back.

They then both fired their bows at the same time, and quickly dodged away from the arrow aimed at their heads, moving back to create some distance from them. After they were a safe distance from each other, they started firing on each other again, as arrows were exchanged between the moving combatants, running and shooting at the same time.

"You know... The way you fire off those arrows, it makes it hard to dodge all these shots." Claude answered back, as he rolled backwards to dodge a arrow shooting ahead of him. "You seem to have a fairly better grasp at predicting the movement of your enemies than me, and more accurate than me."

"Like I said, I have spent as much time training archery, as I have remained duke for." Virion answered back, as he weaved to the side to dodge Claude's arrow, before he then fired one at Claude, who barely dodged it. "You'll find me quite tough to beat, unless you have a plan of your own."

"A plan of my own... Not quite there yet, but I do have something else to level the playing field a little." Claude answered back, before his bone-made bow began to glow, with the orb in the centre of the bow the brightest of all of the parts. "Time to show you that Failnaught really lives up to its name!"

Claude then rested an arrow onto Failnaught, before he then fired it, as the arrow turned golden, as it sped towards Virion, veering towards him, as it managed to strike onto the side of his waist, causing the blue-haired duke to let out a gasp of pain.

"Well, that is quite a powerful weapon you have there..." Virion groaned, before he then ripped the arrow out of the side of his waist. "I had my eye on your bow... It is a relic of some sort, is it not?"

"That's right, this bow only answers to the bears of the Crest of Riegan." Claude answered back, spinning his bow around. "You're quite out of luck, since this bow of mine is actually powerful enough to slay even large beasts with the right targeted spots."

"Even so, you underestimate me, if I would be cowed by your strength with your weapon." Virion answered back, before he then lowered himself into a firing position. "Because I survived through all of my battles, solely through hard work, and I'll demonstrate it, like so."

Virion then pulled out his bow, and grabbed a bundle of arrows, before he then quickly fired and nocked them at a frightening speed, which caught Claude off-guard, as he tried to dodge the barrage of arrows coming his way, all surprisingly accurate despite Virion's rapid and wild firing, as most of them managed to land hits on his limbs and torsos, knocking him back slightly, and damaging his armour quite a lot. After Virion's bundle ran dry, he then grabbed another from his quiver, before firing again.

Claude clicked his tongue, before he then fired back with Failnaught, as the guided arrows soared towards Virion. Virion did his best to dodge the honing arrows, managing to succeed in evading some of the arrows, although most of them did hit him, yet he didn't flinch or stagger, as he fired back at Claude, paying him back for each hit he took.

As time passed, the quivers of the two archers were running dry, until they were left with one arrow each, their bodies riddled with holes in their armour, and blood where the arrows pierced flesh.

"Well then... I guess that last arrows win the battle." Claude huffed, before he then slowly nocked it. "I'll be sure that this one will be the one to put you down."

"Don't be ridiculous." Virion growled back, before he then nocked his own arrow onto his bow. "Even if you take me down, I'll make sure that this final arrow of mine will land as well. The worst I'll have to accept is a draw, and I have endured so many blows, that I have grown to be able to bear them. Such is what an archer needs, should they be unable to evade one's attack."

"Well, try to bear this one then! Fallen Star!" Claude challenged, as the arrow on his bow glowed purple, with roaring energy surrounding it.

"This will be one for the bards!" Virion exclaimed, as his grip over the arrows tightened, his full strength focused right onto his arrow.

The two of them fired their arrow, as they brushed past each other, neither of them interfering each other's paths, before they landed on their respective targets. Claude's striking Virion on the chest, as it tore right through his armour, leaving him almost bare-chested, and giving him nothing more than a strong burn on his chest, as the arrow itself vaporised from the impact onto his reinforced armour. Virion's shot completely penetrated Claude's armour, as the arrow's entire tip drove right into the centre of Claude's ribcage, almost piercing bone, as Claude was thrown back onto the ground.

With both archers on the ground, none of them moved for a moment, as they were both in great amounts of pain. After those bouts of pain subsided, they rose back onto their feet, looking directly at their opponent.

"I suppose that this is where our duel ends...?" Virion asked back, clutching his burn wound gingerly.

"Yeah... I think that you got me as good as I did with that final shot." Claude responded back, before he weakly chuckled, despite the pain. "I think that I'll need some real help to get this arrow out of my chest. I felt it drive into my own ribcage."

"You shouldn't underestimate someone, just because they don't use magic. My arrows are made to pierce armour, and rend magic." Virion answered back. "That's how I survived through wars with beings of fantasy,and warriors of great skill and renown."

"That so... Well, I guess that it's nice knowing you." Claude responded back with a faint smile.

"Likewise." Virion nodded back, before he then noticed the door reappeared behind him with a audible whoosh.

The two of them looked at each other for a few more moments, before Claude gestured for Virion to continue, which the duke complied to, as he trudged through the door, and left without another word.

"A good archer, and a man of smarts..." Claude pondered. "If only there were more people like him and me, we might have something interesting."


	8. Chapter 7

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 7: Elma's Will, Clash of the Idealistic Fists.

* * *

_With Elma..._

Elma continued down the path towards the door ahead of her, as she was a little worried about the others, since she herself was a bit concerned about her own skill and ability to pass her trial. She was worried that she might fail and let down the others. However, she remembered that Richard believed in her, and that everyone else did as well, since they would never throw her into something that she wouldn't be capable of doing.

With her newfound confidence, she continued along, although the lingering doubt that she has to actually fight someone leaves her with a deep pit in her own stomach, since she is not the kind of person to fight, unless she was provoked in self-defence, and even then, she tried to avoid getting into these situations at all.

She then continued through the door, as she found herself inside a large sports field, made of red earth and white lines of paint, as she looked around, seeing that one side was a large forest, and on the other side was a large school building. And right above her was the night sky, which was lit up by sheets of green aurora, as she was dazzled by the sight of what she saw.

"What... What is this place...?" Elma asked to herself, as she saw the unfamiliar scenery, which seemed to look like a school, one that she barely remembers going to. "This place looks like a school... But what kind is it...? I don't even know where I am!"

"Then don't concern yourself with knowing what this place is." A female voice, filled with formality and courtesy, responded back to Elma's words, which surprised the young demoness, who looked around for the source of the voice. "For these are merely grounds within a pocket dimension, made for the Ranking Games. You need not concern yourself, for you are very much safe in here, since there is no-one but the two of us here."

Elma then managed to notice the speaker, who was a beautiful young woman with shining blue eyes, smooth skin, and long, beautiful crimson hair that had a fairly long ahoge near the centre of her head, and loose bangs covering her forehead and side bangs framing her face. She wore a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt, with a black ribbon on her shirt collar worn under a black shoulder cape and a matching button-down corset, a magenta skirt with white accents, and brown dress shoes over white crew-length socks.

When Elma looked at the new arrival, she was able to easily tell that the person before her was a demoness much like her, and a powerful and influential one at that, as she was left stunned for a few moments, which the other demoness mercifully gave her, with a calm look in her eyes, and a thin smile on her lips.

"You're... You're a demon like me..." Elma asked back. "Are you... Are you my opponent here?"

"I have no reason to deny your answer. Indeed I am. It's only fitting that demons are pitted against each other, as such is the traditions utilised in the Ranking Games." The woman nodded back, with a gentle tone. "Although I prefer the term 'Devil', as it is the specific kind of demon that I represent. And with how you look, the same type could encompass you as well, however weird it may be that you possess no wings for yourself. I am Rias Gremory, the second heiress of the Gremory Clan, also known as the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess, or the Princess of Destruction."

Elma was further impressed, when she heard that Rias was a heiress much like she was, as they are both heiresses to their respective thrones. She did flinch a little, hearing the threatening titles that Rias also bore, but she did her best to hide her timidness and worry, trying to keep herself looking as confident and eager as she could look. "It is nice to meet you, Lady Rias..." She responded back with a humble tone. "My name is..."

"...Elma of the Underworld, the Overlord of Gloom, and the younger sister of the current Great Overlord of the Underworld, Zeabolos?" Rias finished her sentence, as all semblance of confidence crumbled from the young demoness, shocked that Rias knew her, despite them never meeting before, leaving her stammering, trying to speak. "You seem like you're taken aback by the fact that I know you. Unlike the other ones, I do my research on my future opponents. It is quite ironic that this battle is between heiress for prominent positions in the demon hierarchy, but I find that there is more than that as a reason why I'm pitted against you."

"What... What do you mean?" Elma asked back, as she finally regained her own confidence, before Rias crossed her arms. "And how do you know of me like that?"

"Simple, because we both possess hearts of gold. We are the kind of demons who are selfless in defiance of our species' natural behaviour, and remain steadfast on our principles. Except there is a major difference between you and me, which I will aim to correct, by the end of this battle, whether it be a win or lose for me." Rias answered back. "And the methods I have used to know of you, is through connections. The Underworld is one such realm for demons, out of so many, like the one where I have come from, and so there is communication between them, however little we see. I will admit, the Underworld are not exactly known, but they do indeed possess a strong will. Fighting against a world eater like Trillion, is no easy feat to accomplish, as many have failed, and its victims are noted in the history of devils. You and your sisters have done the entire devil society a unforgettable deed by ridding it permanently."

"...I am not worthy of that kind of praise, Lady Rias..." Elma responded back, bowing her head slightly. "We merely did what we must, in order to ensure our own survival. But even so... I am still happy that this has helped everyone out, even those who I have yet to know, because kindness is a universal right that all people deserve."

"And so my point about us being similar in a way is proven." Rias smiled, before she then folded her arms out again. "But I suppose that the time for banter should come to an end now, since we have yet to fight."

"...Must we...?" Elma asked back. "I really don't want to-"

"Don't overdo your own kindness, Elma." Rias warned Elma sternly. "Even if it seems something foolish to you, there is such a thing as too much kindness, as there are times where kindness only exists to worsen the situation. Trust my words, for I have experienced such things before, and they are most unpleasant. You must not be reluctant to fight, even if you sympathise with your enemy. Just because you fight, doesn't mean that you must bear enmity to each other, nor do you have to cripple or kill each other to achieve your result. You and I must fight, so that I can show you that your one glaring weakness, will end up being your ruin."

Elma was reluctant, as she did understand Rias's intention, in those words, but even so, she couldn't bear to hurt someone who treated her well, even if they were enemies. However, she did know that Rias would be unhappy, if she held back on fighting, and that there were others waiting for her to complete her trial, to emerge victorious. And so, she drew her staff up, with a determined look in her eyes.

"You are prepared to fight... But how long will that resolve last?" Rias remarked ominously, before she then created several red magic circles in front of her. "Let's see how you will handle my attack."

Rias then fired off a series of small red orbs of destructive energy, with tinges of black inside the aura of the orbs, as they shot towards Elma, who was forced to defend, as her barrier took the powerful projectiles, although they did erode the barrier considerably, with the raw power of destruction contained in them. Rias didn't react at all, before she then saw that Elma was preparing a counter-spell, as she let Elma make her move.

Elma quickly let her magic gather to the tip of her staff, as she fired off a large purple lightning bolt, that struck down Rias, who managed to erect a defensive matrix over herself, which absorbed the full brunt of the attack. Elma then repeated the attack, this time with more power, as it managed to make Rias's defences buck slightly under the impact of the magical attack, causing Rias's eyebrows to raise in intrigue.

Rias then dispelled her own barrier, before she then fired her destruction energy into long zigzagging bolts of energy, as Elma focuses herself deeper into defence, as the reinforced barrier managed to hold against the barrage of energy heading her way, although the attack was powerful enough to punch a hole into the barrier, unnerving Elma, who quickly repaired the hole, before Rias could take advantage of it.

"You don't seem to be fond of attacking me." Rias noted, as she asked the demoness firmly. "Why did you not try to strike me, while you had your barrier erected?"

Elma didn't respond, as she then prepared to fire an astral star at Rias, who looked up and saw it coming down towards her, as she manipulated her destruction energy into a large wave projectile, that sliced the falling energy star in half, before it then dissipated into sparks of light. However, Elma was already casting her next spell, as she fired off a large ball of fire, that struck Rias, the flames burning her, as she grunted.

Rias easily dispatched the flames on her, as she then looked at Elma, who still had her staff pointed at her, with several residual wisps around the tip of the weapon. She then fired a fire spell of her own back at the silver-haired demoness, as Elma dodged out of the way of the spell, as she prepared a spell of her own.

"You are most definitely capable of striking through my defences, if you truly tried." Rias answered back. "The way that your lightning almost struck through my barriers, and how your flames managed to singe me well, before I extinguished them to prevent further harm. They all hint that you have a lot of magical power, to compensate for your weaker figure. So why will not use it to the fullest extent?"

Elma still remained silent, although her expression twisted into one of reluctance, as she was purposely avoiding Rias's gaze, which the Gremory heiress noted. "You are reluctant to fight me at your full strength it seems." She stated. "My defences are formidable, but only to those who are my lesser in terms of magical power. You are no such person, that I am sure. I do not know exactly of your reasons for holding yourself back, but it will not help you in your fight against me, nor will it make you see the true point of this battle."

Elma shook her head gently, as she fired a few magic bolts at Rias, trying to break through her defences, but Rias blocked those as well, before she sighed irritably, and then let out a barrage of destruction energy balls, which pattered against Elma's barrier, taking out a large part of it. Elma was slightly exhausted, trying to keep the barrier maintained throughout the attack, as her face twisted slightly in focus.

"Just because you won't fight, doesn't mean that I will not. That is one of the most important things about battling a person, that you must be prepared when they will not stop at anything to crush you where you stand." Rias continued on, as she fired off another series of destruction bolts. "The world is not merciful, Elma, in the shadows, there lurks people who will see their twisted ambitions through at all costs, some much, much worse than Trillion itself, in the way that they can twist people around their finger, and only thrive to see people despair and break into pieces. If you are not prepared to fight, then you will one day find your kindness exploited, in a way that will harm your friends permanently. Are you willing to take that guilt for yourself, Elma? That you would be one of the people responsible for letting your friends suffer in your place?"

"No... I... I won't... I..." Elma muttered, as she tried to fiercely deny Rias's word, as she held her barrier steady. "I... I don't want to hurt people... I know that I have to fight, but I don't want to be like those people... If I fight... Then how could I be considered a demon who strives to devote her life to help people, if I hurt many for the sake of my goals? Richard told me that he'll do all of the fighting for me, because he... He knows that I don't want to fight at all... I've fought so little, but it just feels too much. The people I fight... I just can't avoid thinking about what kind of person they really are... I don't want to shun others, or I would become a hypocrite. Even if I'm taken advantage of... I will believe in the hope that there is good in almost everyone..."

"Then you are truly naive, and that is your weakness..." Rias shook her head solemnly, as she gave Elma a look of pity. "Your pacifism is fairly hypocritical, if you have helped those who have harmed others. That doesn't make it much different to being the one to strike those people down. Every army has its healers and medics, responsible for bringing soldiers onto the field of battle over and over again, just to continue fighting the war, and harm even more. Sometimes, saving lives will condemn others, and you must live with that fact, if you wish to truly become a proper healer of people. Not only that, but although the world is not truly black and white as many would assume, you must not reject the fact that absolute evil exists, or any types of evil that are almost close to matching it. And the people who are responsible for this... Must not be shown mercy at all. In fact, the only mercy granted to them, is to either purify their soul through force, or grant them a swift death, so that their cruelty ends before more lives are taken."

Elma was silent, as she didn't react at all, not even reinforcing her barrier, as it shattered under the next wave of destruction magic balls that Rias threw at her. Rias was prepared to follow up and strike Elma herself, although she was not interested in fighting Elma as she was right now.

"But that's not the main reason that you are refusing to fight, is it. All this talk about your ideals, and I still haven't addressed that problem of yours..." Rias sighed. "You're afraid of using your power, aren't you. You are afraid that you will be like the other Overlords of the Underworld, using overwhelming magic and power to crush your opponents thoroughly, until their charred remains, or eviscerated flesh and blood are all that are left of them. That is why you refuse to fight me seriously, because you worry about going past a line in your morality, that you refuse to trespass, even if it is an act of spite for allies and enemies alike, especially for yourself. You are afraid that once you indulged in the true power within you... You won't ever be the same again, you will slowly turn like your sisters as they were on the battlefields: cruel, and uncaring."

Elma's grip on her staff tightened, as her expression twisted further, as she tried her best to hide the emotional pain she was feeling, as Rias couldn't help but feel sorry for Elma, who was so conflicted about what seemed to be a simple topic for demons, so easy that they don't even need a second's thought to just proceed along with it.

"...But that's wrong, because you won't ever be like that, especially when you still have your heart as golden as it is." Rias continued, as Elma was shocked, almost dropping her staff in the process. "Yes, as the common saying goes, power corrupts, and that has been proven true many more times than it has been defied. However, there are always exceptions to everything. If you are willing to cling onto your ideals so strongly, then your willpower is enough to ensure that you will not fall. And don't forget, you are not alone. You still have many people who care for you, and will ensure that you will never fall into tyranny and cruelty."

Elma's expression softened, as she looked at Rias with hopeful eyes, as Rias then smiled. "I will tell you this. Even as a woman with a heart of gold like you, there are times where my kindness is not enough to fix situations." She said. "There are times where my friends and men are in danger, and I am forced to fight to protect them in turn for doing the same for me. It is not a sin to fight, Elma, for every being meets conflict eventually, and will learn to accept it as part of their life. Even a healer nowadays carries a dagger for self-protection, and won't hesitate to use it if they are threatened at the edge of death. I may be the Princess of Destruction, but I prefer to be called by Rias, nothing else, by people who actually care about me, and see me as I truly am, not as a devil heiress with ambitions and frighting prowess. I may have all this power with me, but I know that I only need to use enough of it to be able to fight against all those before me. No overkill, no crushing. Just power to disable an enemy. If you are too merciful to kill your enemy, then at least render him disarmed and disabled, so that you will have to fight no more, and not push your own bounds any further. I may not be a woman of words, Elma... But I can tell you this: To fight is the same as it is to protect. Sometimes, you must strike down your enemy, in order to protect those you have sworn to aid."

"Rias..." Elma answered back, as she was deeply moved by Rias's words, before she then shook her head, as her expression turned determined. "You're right... I have watched everyone fight for my sake... I may have done a lot by helping them with magical support, and healing their wounds... But I had this deep feeling that it wouldn't be enough, and that I would never let myself grow to be useful, if I did not possess the will to fight. You are right, Lady Rias... I am scared, to be honest, of myself... When I fought against Trillion before, I did nothing, only letting Richard fight alone... My lasting regret is that I didn't help him fight as well, only staying behind to support him. I felt so guilty for running away from the face of adversity. And the worst thing is... I done it again and again, because I lacked the will or courage to fight back, because I was afraid that I would turn into a true demon of my own making, which would make everyone hate me... But I saw that Richard and the others are more forgiving than I thought, that they would accept me no matter what I would become... I felt so stupid that I ever doubted them."

Elma then raised her staff, as it was buzzing with much more energy, as the crest on her left shoulder began to glow purple under her clothing. "But this time... I won't hide back anymore... I promise Big Brother Zeabolos, that I would help them with everything I got... And I have been lying about that for so long. I will make sure that I won't do that anymore..." She continued, as her eyes gave off a faint glow in them, which Rias determined as potent magic energy. "So, Lady Rias... I'm sorry for mocking you by holding back before... From here on, I will use everything I have, in order to ensure that you are not wrong to believe in me. I only ask that you accept my full strength with respect."

"So you finally broke free of your own shell, so to speak...?" Rias answered back, her smile turning warm and caring. "Very well, Lady Elma of the Underworld, Overlord of Gloom, I request that you show me your full worth in battle!"

Elma shouted, as she quickly charged her staff with purple lightning energy, much faster than she did before, as the lightning bolt that resulted from the casting, hit Rias, who erected her defence matrix, which was utterly shattered on impact, the lightning piercing through and striking Rias, who screamed in pain, as she was forced down. Elma looked at her with some concern, before the red-headed devil rose back up quickly, with a smirk on her lips.

"Now the real battle begins...!" Rias shouted, before she then created even more magic circles. "Prepare yourself, Elma!"

She then fired her destruction magic again, as the magic circle increased the coverage of her attacks. With a sweep of her staff, Elma created a barrier that resisted all of the attacks, before she then retaliated with a shower of stars that Rias noticed. This time, Rias was forced to fire beams of destruction to counter the storm of magical stars, although some of them got through, as she was forced to dodge them, in order to avoid the large projectiles from hitting her directly.

Elma readied up another spell, as she created a large line of fiery pillars that shot towards Rias, who used some sort of teleportation spell, to avoid the attack, as Rias flicked her hand out, as bolts of destruction rushed towards Elma. Elma didn't flinch at all, as she flicked her staff around, as she created a large hexagonal barrier, which was much darker, and by how the attacks dissipated on it, without damaging it much, far more durable than her normal barriers as well.

"So this is your full power as you are now... How frightening and pleasing at the same time..." Rias remarked. "You turned the tables so quickly, that I assumed that you would be toying with me, had you not spoke your heart out to me earlier. And that pleases me, since I now see why you are truly the heiress of your own kingdom of demons. In honour, I will grace you with my strongest attack, which you must counter, lest the attack disintegrates you at direct contact."

"I understand... So my barriers will likely not be able to bear such a powerful attack." Elma nodded, before she then charged her staff, as it began to glow purple entirely, as her shoulder's crest grew even brighter. "Then I will do the same... Big Brother Zeabolos taught me how to fight before, and I used to have a powerful spell of my own. Even though it has been long since I used the spell, I'm sure that with this power, it will prove sufficient."

"We shall see...! Extinguished Star!" Rias cried, as she unleashed a large slow-moving ball of pure destruction energy, which seemed to be surrounded by black sparks of energy, as Elma could feel it dragging her in.

"SORROWFUL MOON!" Elma declared, as the energy was fired out of her staff, as it swelled and transformed into a large ball of purple energy, with her Overlord Crest glowing inside of it, before she then flicked her staff, as the ball of energy was sent flying towards Rias's attack.

Both balls of immense power collided, as their initial collision was even enough to create a massive shock-wave that knocked both combatants back a little, as the two balls pushed and shoved against each other, with neither of them shrinking or breaking apart at all. In fact, with Rias's Extinguished Star dragging Elma's Sorrowful Moon in, the two were stuck in a long-drawn struggle against each other, pressing closer and closer to each other, until they actually merged.

And at that moment, the merged ball of energy exploded, completely unstable from the fusion of two conflicting forms of energy, as the explosion was enough to blind everyone with a shining light, and the explosion itself, sent the two of them flying in opposite directions, as Rias was sent flying across the forest, and Elma was smashed against the school wall, breaking through it, and ending up in a classroom, knocking a few tables and chairs down, and the entire school building was shattered by the explosion, and the entire sports field was turned into a smoking crater.

When Elma recovered herself, she found herself surrounded by rubble of the school nearby, with luckily none of it dangerously close to her. She got up, brushing off the plaster and dirt that got onto her, before she walked through the large hole that the explosion she made, before she was left shocked at the aftermath of the devastating attack, leaving her gasping in horror.

"Oh no, Lady Rias...!" Elma exclaimed in fear, before she then ran out, frantically looking for the Gremory heir. "Lady Rias...! Lady Rias...!"

Rias then came out of the forest, as she looked quite beaten up, while she tried to keep a confident smile on her lips. "I'm here, Elma... Don't worry, the attack didn't kill either of us." She answered back.

"Lady Rias... Oh, this is miraculous..." Elma sighed in relief. "I thought that you were dead."

"I'm quite durable." Rias simply stated. "You'll need that far closer to me, to actually give me something to worry about. But it looks like that you got off lucky compared to me. I'm all roughed up."

"I'm sorry-" Elma tried to apologise, before Rias pressed a finger on her lips to stop her.

"Now, now, there is nothing to apologise for." Rias answered back. "You just simply showed me your full might, and you emerged victorious over me, in this case."

"I... I won...?" Elma asked back, in disbelief that she managed to win the first fight she seriously took on, after Trillion.

"Yes, technically." Rias confirmed. "I'm sure that you have your friends waiting." Rias stated, noticing the door appearing behind Elma, before she pointed at it. "Go. Return to them. They are waiting for you, and they'll be proud to see that you have grown in both power and mentality."

"I... I will never forget what you have done for me, Lady Rias... I owe you a great favour in gratitude." Elma bowed back deeply, before she then left through the door hurriedly.

"Heh... She sort of reminds me of myself, when I was a bit younger, if only without the naive belief." Rias stated, before she shrugged. "If she was a resident in our Underworld... She would have quite the high status."

* * *

_With Ieyasu..._

Ieyasu proceeded down the pathway, as he did not waste any time reaching the door ahead of him, as he was sprinting ahead. He then passed through the door, before he found himself inside the grounds of a large Japanese castle, looking around to see that he was within one of the large courtyards inside of it, and he found the banner of the Western Army factions within sight, as he was fairly tense upon seeing it.

"To find myself situated in the grounds of the Western Army... Would it be that my opponent will be one of their formidable generals...? If not... Mitsunari himself..." Ieyasu remarked grimly, as he raised his guard, and looked around. "Whoever it may be... I must fight them with all I have."

He then continued along the courtyard, before he then bumped into a young girl with magenta hair, that has been tied into long flowing pigtails on the side of her head and dark green eyes. She wore a purple ribbon bow on the left side of her head, that had several purple feathers attached to it, a frilly dress that seemed to be a mix of black, purple, and white fabric, with large puffed-up sleeves, black stockings on her legs, and black boots with golden linings, and sapphire pins with feathers behind the heels. She also wielded large metal gauntlets, which seemed to not affect the girl at all, as she was running with them.

"Whew... I think that I made it safely..." The girl spoke, before she then noticed Ieyasu there, as it startled her greatly. "Wah! Why is there someone here as well!? You won't take me back! I won't let you! I'll get back to teacher no matter what it takes!"

Ieyasu was surprised at the amount of fighting spirit the girl had, as well as the fact that she would go right through him, in order to achieve whatever she was doing. The young conqueror was left silent, as she then slowly approached the girl, who raised her gauntlets, as if she was prepared to fight.

"Young one... I'm not here to harm you. I merely wish to ask what you are doing here." Ieyasu assured the girl with a smile, as he stopped at a fair distance from her, in order to not make her even more paranoid about him. "I wonder... You look as if you're escaping from someone or something."

"Of course! I don't want to be a prisoner anymore!" The girl shouted strongly. "I know that teacher is somewhere here. She'll help break me out of here, before all these people catch up to me, and take me back into my prison!"

"So you are a prisoner." Ieyasu stated. 'And yet, you don't look like that you have done anything wrong. I doubt that you are imprisoned for what you have done specifically. I assume that it's likely that you're taken hostage for coercion and blackmail... Am I right on that guess?"

"You... You know...?" The girl asked back, before she sighed and lowered her fists. "Yes... I've been taken here in order to stop the other daimyos of the Eastern Army from joining the big battle that is coming soon... Along with many others. But I'm sure that I can break free now, now that teacher is here to help...!"

'_Sekigahara... There's no doubt about it... But this is not the world I have lived in... So I cannot tell what would happen..._' Ieyasu thought. '_Either way... Trial or no... I cannot let a young girl like this be left unaided, with how cruel the Western Army treats her._'

"Then allow me to help you as well." Ieyasu kindly offered. "I'm sure that having someone to help you leave your unjust captivity would prove useful. In fact, I'll be sure to make sure that you make it out safely, to reunite with your teacher, if you so wish."

"Really? You'll do that...!?" The girl asked back.

"I have no reason to deceive you right now." Ieyasu replied back, before the girl smiled gratefully, as she walked over to Ieyasu, now accepting of Ieyasu.

"Thank you... Thank you... I guess that I'm really lucky to find someone as nice as you..." She stated. "Come on, we need to go, before a real bad guy finds me, and now you as well!"

"I understand." Ieyasu nodded gently. "May I ask your name, little miss?"

"I'm Gracia! Daughter of Mitsuhide Akechi! And student of the great charmer Koshosho!" Gracia cheerfully declared.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Gracia." Ieyasu answered back. "My name is Ieyasu Tokugawa-"

As soon as his name left the mouth, Gracia froze up, as her expression turned from cheer, into one of shock and betrayal. As soon as he saw the expression change, he realised that he may have made a terrible mistake, stating his own name.

"Ieyasu... Tokugawa...?" Gracia muttered softly, as she was stunned for a few moments, as Ieyasu didn't know what to do, as he was unsure what was happening with the young girl.

And then suddenly, Gracia then charged right at Ieyasu, with a fist out, as she throttled towards him, as he could barely react to the attack, using his gauntlet to block the attack, before he felt another force push against him, knocking him back. He then recovered, before he then saw Gracia's betrayed expression.

"You meanie! You cheater! You were trying to trick me back there!" Gracia shouted angrily, as she prepared herself for battle. "I don't know what would have happened if I believed you... But I know that it wouldn't have been nice! You are most definitely not Ieyasu Tokugawa! I have seen him myself, and he doesn't look a single bit like you are now, and he's not even as young as you! You're definitely a liar, if you would state that you're him! I won't let you trick me again!"

"Gracia... Please, let us not-" Ieyasu tried to plead, before Gracia then charged at him again, as she dashed towards him, throwing her palm, as it fired a large energy projectile at Ieyasu, which he realised was the second force that knocked him back on her previous attack. He dodged to the side, as the projectile sailed harmlessly past him.

"I'll punish you hard, like my teacher would!" Gracia declared furiously, as she then charged at Ieyasu, as she attacked him with her gauntlets.

Ieyasu used his own gauntlets to parry Gracia's blows, before he dodged one of Gracia's upper kicks, which would have connected with his head, had he not reacted to it, before he then knocked her back, with a straight punch, as the magenta-haired girl skidded across the ground.

'_She doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk... I must have inadvertently created my own enemy here and now..._' Ieyasu thought solemnly in his mind. '_If she is my opponent... She is no simple girl, if she could attack like that. I must fight her seriously, if I wish to stop this fight before it gets out of hand._'

Gracia then rushed towards Ieyasu, before she then did a series of blows, followed by a powerful piercing straight, which Ieyasu dodged, before then firing off another energy projectile, which Ieyasu punched hard with his fist, as the energy managed to harm him through contact, but he was able to dissipate it with the force of his attack.

However, Gracia didn't seem to be done attacking, as she then did a jab-cross combo on Ieyasu's chest, before she then slammed a body hook on him, staggering Ieyasu, before she then pressed both of her palms forward, firing off a spread of energy projectiles that collided with Ieyasu, sending him flying back. She then pursued him into the air, before then throwing a fire-ball that exploded and sent him smashing into the ground.

Ieyasu slowly got up, before he then charged right at the falling Gracia, before nailing her with a strong uppercut, that stopped her mid-air, before then smashing her down with a power-infused downwards strike, that slammed the girl into the ground. Before Ieyasu could attack her any further, she then swiftly dodged away, as if she was slipping through space itself, returning to a standing position, before she then countered with a uppercut to the abdomen, before she then fired a shockwave around her, following up with a large projectile of flowing water, that knocked Ieyasu back, before she then summoned a barrier of lightning around her.

"I'm not going to go down that easily!" Gracia exclaimed, before she then followed up with a string of dashing blows and projectiles, which Ieyasu blocked, before she then fired a large wave projectile at Ieyasu, which cut through his guard, and hit him. However, this did not stagger Ieyasu, as he then charged his power, before then creating a large field made of his own emblem, as it turned golden, and sent Gracia flying with force. He then jumped up, and hit her with a series of strikes, before then knocking her down.

Gracia rolled back, as soon as she landed on the ground, before she then charged her own power, as Ieyasu prepared his own guard, as he knew that she was going to use a very powerful attack. As soon as Gracia finished charging her own power, she then fired a series of laser beams at Ieyasu, with each punch she did, as Ieyasu could block the first few, before the rest broke it and hit him directly. Gracia then bent down, as angelic wings of energy appeared on her back, before she then raised her hands, as they exploded into a burst of bright energy that slammed into Ieyasu knocking him, and injuring him greatly.

"Urk..." Ieyasu muttered, before he then charged his own power, as his fists turned golden. "May my fists unite all!"

He then unleashed his ultimate attack on Gracia, as the barrage of punches he did, broke right through the barrier of lightning that was formed around Gracia, as she was hit so strongly by the attacks, that she was too dazed to do anything, as the ruthless attacks landed on her one after the other. After finishing his barrage off with a powerful thundering straight, he then watched, while the energy dissipated from his fists, as Gracia was sent flying, as she slammed into the front of the wall, before falling down.

"...I'm sorry that I had to fight you like this, young Gracia..." Ieyasu responded back, before bowing his head in a gesture of respect to the powerful girl. "But you are very powerful... I could say that your power is comparable to my own... If only I had less at stake, I wouldn't have to fight you so ruthlessly as I did..."

He then walked over, before he then saw that Gracia was still conscious, as she looked quite sullen, that she lost.

"I lost... Father... Teacher... I'm sorry..." Gracia muttered. "I just couldn't... make it..."

"Gracia..." Ieyasu stated, before he then sat down in front of her. "I know that it is shocking news... That I am Ieyasu Tokugawa... But I must speak of a more shocking truth. I'm not the Ieyasu Tokugawa you know, because I am from a different world, a different realm..."

Gracia was silent, as Ieyasu wasn't sure whether she was ignoring him, or that she was silently waiting for Ieyasu to continue. Regardless, Ieyasu continued to speak.

"As the leader of the Eastern Army once... I am truly shocked to see that someone as young as you would be fighting in a war like that." Ieyasu answered back. "And I am horrified that even in another world... The nation is engulfed in the great war that has taken so many lives. I only wish that I would be able to help you, in order to atone partially for the traitorous deed of letting this war happen by my own hands, even if the contribution is insignificant."

"...So... So you were really trying to help me...?" Gracia asked back, with doubt in her voice.

"...I understand your hate and distrust of me before." Ieyasu responded back. "I would have harboured doubt as well, if I was back in my world, and another version of my men arrived, especially one that has been dead for a long time. But I have learned to see past my own nation, my own world, and understand that there are many versions of a single person. I may not be your Ieyasu, but I will be a Ieyasu that will see equality and benevolence through, no matter how cruel the world might be to these virtues."

Gracia was silent, before Ieyasu put a hand out. "I only ask that we at least part with good terms. I don't ask you to forgive me easily... But I hope that you will not truly hate me the next time we meet. When that time comes... I'm sure that you and I will be able to become good friends." He stated. "Come, I'll help you onto your feet."

Gracia looked at Ieyasu's outstretched hand for a moment, before she then slowly moved her hand over it, as she was pulled up onto her feet. She looked fairly sad and beaten in her current shape, which only made Ieyasu feel more guilty about what he had done. He internally hoped that this would be the only time that he would have to do a cruel deed, as to harm a girl who merely wishes to be free.

"If it would help... The path where I came from is barren without any men. I'm sure that you'll be able to make your escape there." Ieyasu notified Gracia.

Gracia looked Ieyasu in the eyes, before she then muttered a quiet "Thanks.", before she then proceeded along, to the path behind him.

After she left, the doors back to the facility hub reappeared, as Ieyasu looked back where Gracia went, before he shook his head gently, with a regretful expression on his face, before he left without another word to himself.


	9. Chapter 8

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Chapter 8: The Butterfly Who Dreams, Golem vs. Haniwa.

* * *

_With Erika..._

Erika proceeded down the path, as she maintained her usual uninterested and calm expression, as she passed through through the other door without any problems. When she passed through it, she found herself in the small digital space, which was Under Zero, where the Digitisation Incident began at.

She looked around the digital server, as it was without the server core that sealed Arcadiamon inside, and looked like that it was before it was ravaged by the Eaters and the heroes.

"This place..." Erika remarked, as she looked around. "It feels like that I'm back inside EDEN... No... This is Under Zero. But I thought that this place wouldn't exist... EDEN wouldn't be the same after how the world changed after we defeated the Eaters... This place would most likely not exist. So why am I brought here...?"

There was a few moments of silence, before something appeared in a flash of data, as Erika turned around to see it, as a figure came after the data flash. It was a beautiful woman with dark grey eyes, and waist-length blonde hair with a fringe covering her forehead. On top of her head was a black-framed sunglasses with pink lenses, and she wore a white T-shirt with a propped up collar, long sleeves and red buttons, and her topmost button undone, revealing a part of her upper chest. She also wears black gloves, a black scarf with golden circuit-like lines in the shoulders, which is tied near the belly and passes on top of her hair in the back. She also wears black hotpants, and black high heels which are open in the top and have golden circuit-like lines in the bottom. She turned to Erika, before she then gave off a smirk that seemed quite coy.

"Well, well... It seems that we finally meet, Erika Mishima, lead hacker of the hacker team Hudie." The woman responded back. "I never thought that I would be able to meet such a cute girl like you. It makes me want to hug you tightly, with how adorable you look right now."

"And I didn't expect to see the one that Keisuke saw himself." Erika responded back. "You're Kyoko Kuremi, the one who created the Kuremi Detective Agency. I also managed to figure out that the other heroes, including David and his friends, were working for you."

"Smart girl. You must have done your research quite well, to know this much about my little company." Kyoko praised Erika. "And now,you are aware what we are going to do here, right? I'm sure that you'll figure it out easily."

"I've come here to fight you." Erika responded back tersely. "But before we do that, I want to ask a few questions. I know that you are definitely someone who has a double identity as a Digimon, otherwise you wouldn't be the one who would be facing right now. Tell me, who are you exactly?"

"Why don't I show you?" Kyoko asked back, before she then was engulfed in a pillar of golden light, before she reappeared as a Digimon, which seemed to look like a humanoid like the other partner Digimon, clad in shining black knight armour with golden lining and joints, armoured protrusions on its back, which were shaped like rigid wings, and a dark flowing cape which seemed to be worn down with a jagged edge and several holes on it. Its head seemed to be shaped like a dragon's head, with back-facing protrusions on the sides of its head. "I am Alphamon, one of the Royal Knights, and the one who lead the rebellion against King Drasil, which was one of the key elements that allowed the world to be reset for the peace of the world. I take it that you were the one who cleansed EDEN of the Eaters, at almost the same time?"

"Indeed. We fought the Eater-infested EDEN. In order to ensure that the Eaters's influence would be routed back to their own dimension." Erika stated, before she transformed into Hudiemon. "I am Hudiemon, a Digimon born from the bonds between the old Erika Mishima, and her fated Digimon partner, Wormmon. I do not know of my own power yet, since I have not fought another Digimon in a real battle."

"Then allow me to give you the battle you seek." Kyoko stated, as she then summoned a weapon, a large royal blade of black and gold, with large slicing blades on the sides of it. "With the Ouryuken Sword, I will tell you that I am quite formidable. Unlike the others... I will not expect you to win against me, as you are now. However, I will expect much from you, Hudiemon, or Erika, whichever you prefer. I myself, prefer to remain with my true name in this form."

"Then unlike you, I will remain as Erika." Erika answered back, as she prepared herself. "The Digimon of my friends are given names to symbolise their bonds. I will not reject my name either, as it reminds me of the memories and dreams that I carry on these fluttering wings behind me. As I am the butterfly who dreams, I will strive to do my best to protect them, and bear the same things from others, so that they will be achieved and protected."

"A bold declaration." Kyoko answered back, before she then readied her weapon. "In that case, let us fight! Heavy Strike!"

Kyoko then swung her blade down at Erika, who fluttered to the side, as she avoided the powerful strike, before Erika then retaliated with a few kicks to the head of the larger Digimon, as it managed to daze Kyoko for a bit, before Kyoko swiped hard to drive Erika away, as the nimble Digimon retreated back.

"It seems that you are quite strong, despite the difference between our actual power level." Kyoko answered back, before she then pointed her blade out. "But can you bear this!? Power Energy!"

She then fired off a large ball of grey energy, which shot towards Erika, who found it too fast to evade, as she tried to block it, only for the powerful projectile to send her flying back, before she then recovered herself, and faced Kyoko again.

"I won't be beaten that easily!" Erika exclaimed, before she then threw her arms out. "Gaia Element!"

Kyoko noticed the attack coming towards her, as the earthen rock shot towards her, as it hit her with enough force to break her guard, surprising the Royal Knight Digimon.

"What...!? That attack managed to break open my guard... A simple attack like that shouldn't be able to have that kind of effect. Especially when you remain at a Champion Level, whereas I am a Ultra Level..." Kyoko remarked with surprise, before she then regained her composure. "I see... You must have trained yourself, in order to grow stronger, and even found a way to access powers beyond what you would normally possess, haven't you...?"

"I know that if I don't get stronger, then the other Digimon with me will outclass me greatly, and I rather not let that kind of thing happen." Erika responded back. "So I have been spending a lot of time training my own power, and fighting countless simulated enemies in order to acquire data to strengthen myself. I knew that I cannot Digivolve at all, as I am right now, but I do not require transforming, in order to inherit the skills I require. I have been converting my excess data into skills that other Digimon that are connected to me would have, and I have been making sure that I have been able to use them. It seems that it works just as efficiently as I wanted."

"It seems that you were prepared for the moment you would be thrown into battle." Kyoko responded back with respect to Erika's ingenuity. "Very well, then I will push you further! Mach Rush!"

Kyoko then beat on Erika at fast speed, as she struck Erika too fast for the buttefly Digimon to dodge, before she was knocked away by a tackle from Kyoko. She then recovered, before she then readied herself, as she brought her left leg back.

"Big mistake!" Erika shouted, before she then rushed forward, as energy covered her leg. "Flying Kick!"

Kyoko didn't react in time for the attack, as it landed right on her chest, as she was sent flying far, before she then stabbed the Ouryuken into the ground, to stop her from flying further.

"Destruction Cannon!" Kyoko declared, as she fired her energy forward, as a large beam of purple dark energy, as Erika managed to barely dodge the attack, grazing against the side of her waist, as it made her flinch a little.

"Aura!" Erika declared, as green waves of energy washed over her clearing some of her wounds, before she then cast her power forward again. "Rune Forest!"

Kyoko wasn't able to dodge the area-wide attack, as it hit her multiple times, from the sprouting trees that came from the attack, as she was knocked up, as Erika chased up to her, before letting out a flurry of kicks on the air-borne Digimon, before knocking her down with a smashing kick. The black Digimon slowly rose up, as Erika stylishly flipped back to where she was.

"You are fairly strong, but it is not over yet!" Kyoko declared, before she then raised her hand. "Saint Knuckle!"

Erika noticed the formation of light energy above her, although she couldn't dodge the fist of light smashing down onto her, as it injured her greatly.

"Well, I'm not going to lose here! Take this!" Erika shouted, before she then spread her wings out, as glittering pollen fell from her wings, before she then beat it towards Kyoko. "Infinity Dream!"

Kyoko noticed the attack coming, as she tried to avoid it, although some of the pollen hit her, and paralysed her where she stood, and also made her feel ill in both her own senses and her body.

"Urgh... What is this...? This is no ordinary ailment..." Kyoko groaned, as she tried to keep herself upright and conscious. "I can feel that my body and mind has been scrambled by that attack..."

"That's my signature move, Infinity Dream." Erika responded back. "Once it hits you, it leaves you in a state where your own body and mind rebels against you. More or less, you're not going to be able to fight until this passes. Until then... I'm not going to let this opportunity slide by! Hope you're ready for a beating from me!"

Erika then pummelled Kyoko with various attacks, as she was aggressively assaulting Kyoko, hoping to do considerable damage to the Royal Knight, before the effects of her technique fade away from the Royal Knight, as she threw lightning and earth techniques at her, as well as use her own fists and legs to smash Kyoko all over her body.

After the effects wore off, Kyoko grabbed Erika's fist, as she was about to launch a punch, before she then used her immense strength to fling Erika away.

"It seems that you have done enough already to me. Now then, let's see if you can bear this attack head-on! If you can survive it, I will declare this as your victory!" Kyoko declared, before she then raised her weapon up, as she charged after Erika. "Ultimate Ouryuken!"

Erika managed to recover herself mid-air, before she then saw Kyoko utilising her ultimate technique, as she was forced to coil herself in full defence, before the blade came down, through her guard and herself, as she was stunned where she stood, with a golden flashing slash-mark through her. Kyoko then backed away, before the mark exploded in a bright sphere of golden light.

As soon as the light disappeared, it was revealed that Erika was still conscious, but only barely, as her body looked like it was on the verge of being destroyed, and she was kneeling, completely immobile and still, as her expression was one of pain.

"...You managed to survive... no, even remain conscious after being hit by that attack..." Kyoko remarked, before she then dissipated the Ouryuken. "This battle has ended. You have proven yourself, Erika."

She then walked over, before she then placed a palm out, as it flowed with green energy, that latched onto Erika, healing all of her wounds, as she slowly recovered her strength, before getting up on her feet.

"...I did it, didn't I?" Erika asked back softly.

"Yes. Yes, you did. You have managed to pass my test, and thus, you are free to return to your friends." Kyoko answered back. "I am quite impressed that you managed to use your own techniques to the best of your abilities, and managed to do more than I expected. You have surpassed expectations, and I praise you for that."

"Hmph. Gotta be strong, if I'm going to help the others out." Erika responded back, before she then reverted back to her human form. "Still... You're not even real, are you? Even as a Digimon, you're merely a simulated being. And then that means that everyone here are simulations as well, as they are all pitted against us, in situations that wouldn't normally occur."

"And your genius shines again, little Erika." Kyoko stated, before she reverted as well, with a big grin on her face. "DW knows that he cannot truly bring about the opponents, and set them in situations that would be able to comply with the desires of both sides, and instigate the fights that the trials require. For example, I'm not the real Kyoko Kuremi, but merely a copy made from data on her. The real one is with the Brave Adventurers, who in turn are part of the Ultra Hero Alliance. Some of us are aware of our purpose, while others act mostly like their real counterparts."

"Hm. Then that means that everyone is fighting in simulated environments. Against opponents that don't actually exist, other than as solid holograms or entities of data, much like Digimon, now that I think of it." Erika responded back, with a hand on her chin.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that for EVERYONE." Kyoko said, as her smile turned devious, leaving Erika confused.

"What do you mean?" Erika asked back.

"Well, about that... Actually, since you managed to pass your trial... I may as well tell you fair and square." Kyoko responded back. "The fact is that about a certain pair of friends... Their opponents will actually be..."

* * *

_With Flora..._

As Flora proceeded through the corridor, she thought about what kind of trial would be given to her, as she was not confident of her own chances in a fight, with a ailing body that hampers most of her ability to battle at all. She sincerely hoped that she would not have to fight like the others would have, and instead have a test of magic.

She went through the doors, before she found herself in a large forest, as the trees surrounded her from all directions, and she could see the dense foliage around her, as she was standing in the only clearing in her vicinity. However, she found that the clearing was quite large, as it seemed to be big enough for a battle to properly occur over here, as she looked around a little.

"...Odd..." Flora muttered. "It seems that I have been thrown into the middle of nowhere. I wonder what kind of challenge would await me in this very place."

Before she could speak, she could see a few cauldrons of magical reagents, as well as a large cauldron of magically-infused mud appear before her, as she was quite surprised that all of these things conveniently appeared before her. Before she could ponder about what exactly happened, she felt something brush against her right hand. When she held onto the feeling, she felt that she was holding something, before she then raised it to her eyes, as it was a note made of sturdy paper and black ink.

'_Your trial will not involve you, for your condition is too frail to fight an actual battle, unlike the others. You will be given your time to create a golem of your own making, to act as your representative in this trial. Only when you are certain you have made your desired creation, shall your trial begin. D.W.' _The message read, as Flora quietly read it to herself.

After she finished reading, she immediately pocketed it, as she thought about the new piece of information she received. "It seems that as if he has read my mind, he has decided to give me a fair challenge." Flora stated to herself. "However... I must not underestimate my opponent. Now then... With all of this, I can create specialised golems which will be able to provide a decent representative to the trial... But what kind shall I create...?"

Flora then cycled through her options, as she then scooped up the magical mud and placed it on the ground, as she began to shape it from the large puddle from the ground, into the golem she requires.

"I know that the kind of opponent that my chosen golem would face, would be no simple battle." Flora murmured to herself. "Perhaps I could make it to the liking of the humanoid dragon, Meiling...?"

After a while, as she continued to shape it, she thought about the idea, before she rejected it. "No... She possess a kind of internal power that I have almost no understanding of. It would be foolish to assume that I would be able to replicate it to a usable degree."

She then took a moment to continue sculpting her golem, as she shifted it to a humanoid physique and size, with featureless limbs and torso. She then worked on carving runic markings on it, in order to assist the flow of magic inside the magical construct.

"Either way, I am certain that a humanoid golem would be fitting for this kind of trial. Possessing a reliable mix between strength, power and finesse, it will be able to face any challenge that my typical golems cannot." Flora stated. "Perhaps I can even create a model that can use magic as well. Perhaps using elemental magic, much like Richard, whose magical power is devastating with that brand of magic?"

She then shook her head again, as the idea was out of question as well. "Although a much more reasonable choice... I doubt that I would be able to stabilise the various forms of magic in this constructed body, let alone make them synergise with each other to avoid complications. No, one element would be sufficient and logical for this kind of golem. Perhaps..."

After the runes were carved onto the body of the golem, she then moved onto carving the rest of the details out, as well as implanting the magical reagents required inside the body. When she was done with that, before her was a mud golem copy of Gus himself.

"Out of all of the choices, this would be the most suiting. The young one is proficient with fire magic, and he is well-versed in the arts of the great-sword." Flora remarked about her creation. "Thus, he is the only one that I can suitably model the golem after, as the others are not suited for various reasons that I cannot achieve with what I have now, for my own creation powers have limits, ones greatly diminished at my age. Now then... I shall see if this golem works as intended."

Flora then fed the golem magic, as she continued to let her power flow into her creation, before she then stopped when she believed that she had fed enough energy into it, in order to bring it to life as intended. She then waited for a few moments, before the Gus golem awakened quickly, raising its head, as inside the sculpted eyes, there was the flicker of orange energy from them, indicating that the golem was indeed sentient.

"So it has worked as intended..." Flora stated, before she sighed in relief. "I'm quite happy that I have not erred in any way, with how complex my own creation was."

The Gus Golem silently waited for Flora to order it around, tilting its head slightly. Flora then waited for a few more moments, as she waited for the trial to begin. However, much to her surprise, she saw a large greatsword appear on the ground. Without any prompt, the Gus golem trudged over to the blade, before it then hefted it up, and gave it a few practice swings, seemingly used to wielding it already.

And then, with a pair of bright flashes of light, two figures appeared, while the cauldrons used for the creation of the golem, all disappeared at the same time. Right before Flora, was a woman with long flowing aqua-coloured hair that flowed behind her head and brown eyes, a green head-dress over the top and sides of her head, a short yellow dress, with a green artist's apron draped in front, with blue pockets filled with sculpting tools, a necklace of assorted magatama beads, blue straps over her arms and legs, and sandals on her feet. And beside her was a girl with yellow eyes, blonde hair that flowed down the sides of her head, with buns on the sides of her head, tied by white ribbons, a yellow scaly armour-dress with white puffy sleeves and legs, black leather arm-guards on her arms, and black boots on her feet.

"That's odd... How exactly did I end up in this kind of place?" The blue-haired person remarked, before she then noticed Flora and her golem. "Hm, a human... here...? How very interesting... I never thought that I would meet another human outside of the Animal Realm. After those deplorable animal spirits have driven me out of the Primate Spirit Garden."

"You're... You're a goddess...?" Flora remarked, as she could sense that the person before her seemed to be emanating the unmistakable aura of divinity from her body. "What kind of goddess are you exactly?"

"Why, I am a sculptor god. Made by the wishes and faith of the human spirits inside the Animal Realm. My name is Keiki Haniyasushin." Keiki introduced herself politely. "And it seems that you are not exactly ordinary either. Yo look fairly wise, much more so than a typical person would be, at your age. Not to mention that I can see that you are a creator like me, with that construct beside you. Who are you?"

"I am Flora, a humble witch dwelling in another world that has been too kind to receive me with open arms." Flora humbly answered back. "It seems that we have met at circumstances that neither of us wish for."

"What exactly do you mean...?" Keiki answered back, before she smiled. "We aren't fighting with each other right now, and we're discussing things quite civilly. What is the problem with that? I think that this is the best outcome that I could hope for."

"Lady Keiki... I think that the woman is speaking of the big picture at hand." The woman beside her stated calmly. "It seems that we are not here to merely parley with each other. I do believe that we are to fight right now."

"Why?" Keiki asked back, looking horrified. "Why would I raise my hand against a human who is nice enough to have a conversation with us like this? This is something that I can't allow, Mayumi."

"Even so, Lady Keiki..." Mayumi sighed back, before she then turned to Flora. "You do remember that we're brought here for a reason.

"Reason...?" Keiki asked back, before she then recalled it, as her expression turned grim. "...Curses... I was hoping that I didn't have to do this."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm sure that neither you or I have to actively participate in the battle in question." Flora tried to assure the reluctant goddess, before pointing at the Gus golem, who seemed determined to fight. "It will act as the representative to the battle."

"It seems that this is the best that we can hope for... But I still don't like this at all." Keiki answered back, shaking her head in disdain. "Mayumi... Would you please..."

"You need not say anymore..." Mayumi answered back, before she then summoned a bow into her hand. "Step forth, construct made by human hands! I, Mayumi Joutouguu, Lance Corporal and Head of the Haniwa Corps for Lady Keiki, shall test your worth!"

The Gus golem obliged to the call of battle, as it stepped forward, while the blade in its hands was slowly raised up. Without a single word, it then pointed its blade at Mayumi, who understood the gesture from the mute golem, before she then made the first attack, as she fired a series of arrows at the golem, who used his blade to block most of the arrows, before slicing the last few in half with a single swing of its blade.

Mayumi then noticed that the golem managed to weather her attack without much damage to it, as it stomped towards her, before slamming her with a three-hit combo of heavy blade strikes, as Mayumi was swung aside by the blows, before being sent back by the final strike, as she slid across the earthen ground, while the golem spun its blade into its initial position.

"Damn it... A bow are not a good choice here... But I do have a way to even the odds a little..." Mayumi stated, as she slowly got up, before she discarded her bow, and created a long thin metal blade in her hand, before pulling out a spell-card with her other. "Declare Spell Card! Haniwa 'Skilled Archer Haniwa'!"

At the declaration of her spell-card multiple short haniwa dolls appeared, as they seemed to be sentient, as they drew back the shrunken bows in their fingerless hands, before each firing off a spread of arrow-shaped energy projectiles at the golem, who tried to dodge the attack, although most of the attack managed to land on it, as it was dazed by the attack. Mayumi then took the chance to take the offensive, as she struck the golem with a series of quick strikes with her blade, before she then thrust back the golem, as the blade managed to cut through the reinforced casing of the golem.

It then impaled its blade into the ground, creating fiery fissures that snaked towards the haniwas, before they erupting, consuming the clay dolls in a burning inferno that incinerated them into ashes, before Mayumi noticed several coming her way. She was able to avoid most of them, before one of them managed to hit her, as she was blasted by the angry flames, as she was left with several burn marks on her body, as it looked much more darker than before.

"It can use magic as well...? Fire magic even...!?" Mayumi exclaimed, before she then readied herself, as she saw the golem rush at her. "Looks like this Flora is no simple creator..."

Mayumi and the golem traded blows, as their blades parried each other, with neither of them gaining the advantage. However, the stalemate didn't last long, as the golem then did a spinning attack, that the haniwa leader barely dodged, before she then smashed down by the following overhead strike, as it knocked her down, and left her open to several slashes, before she was able to knock him back with a precise thrust.

"Even with all of the power I am gaining with my ability... It's still stronger than me... What kind of monster is this construct, to be able to overpower me like this..?" Mayumi remarked to herself, before she then prepared another spell-card. "Declare Spell Card! Haniwa 'Skilled Cavalry Haniwa'!"

Soon, a bunch of haniwas mounted on clay horses appeared, as they charged at the Gus construct as one, firing off energy projectiles, with their blades and spears out. The golem countered this, by adopting a steady stance, before it then slashed wildly with its blade, ignoring the energy attacks landing on it, as it cut through the haniwa cavalry with its blade, as the cut halves of the haniwa cavalry crumbled into clay and dirt when they hit the ground. After the regiment of haniwa units was destroyed, Mayumi was left shocked, as she tried to retain her composure, seeing that although the golem was damaged by the attacks, as shown by parts of its body already cracked and damaged, with even holes on its body, but it looked like that it was far from done.

The golem clone then raised its blade, before spewing a salvo of fireballs that shot towards Mayumi, as she was unable to dodge the shower of fire coming her way, as it hit her, managing to break parts of her own skin off, revealing the hollow insides of her body, as she grunted in pain. After the attack was done, the golem lowered its sword into a charging stance, before it rushed at her.

"Tch... I still have my trump card at hand!" Mayumi yelled, before she then used another spell-card. "Declare Spell Card! Haniwa 'Undefeated Inexhaustible Troops'!"

At that time, countless haniwa spawned, as there was a mix of haniwas mounting clay horses, wielding bows, wielding long fencing blades. All of them locked their hollow eyes on the golem, as they rushed at him together. The fencer haniwas attacked by using their blades to create lines of energy that struck at the golem, with some of them thrusting towards the golem, who deflected them and countered to destroy them.

As the golem was slowly surrounded from all sides, it then resisted as strongly as it could, rushing through the battlefield, and slicing down swathes of haniwa with its blade, as well as using its fire magic to burn them to pieces. However, it realised that it won't be able to handle this many enemies with how it was doing.

Knowing this, it then moved towards the centre, before it then carved a circle into the ground, before it then exploded into a circular wall of flames that repelled the charging fencer and cavalry haniwa, while the archer haniwa tried to shoot through the walls of fire to no avail. Suddenly, the golem shot out through the open top of the circular flame wall, before it then shot back right down. When it hit the ground, it created a massive shockwave, that dissipated the flame wall, turning the shockwaves into waves of fire that washed over the battlefield. With one attack, the haniwas were annihilated, as the fires turned them to ash upon contact. Mayumi tried to protect herself from the merciless flames, although the flames washed over her arms, and turned them completely black, as she wailed in pain, before she collapsed, when the rest of the flames hit her body, hurting her enough to incapacitate her.

Mayumi looked up at the golem who remained standing where it was, before it then walked over to Mayumi, looming over her. She was fairly terrified of the brutal golem before her, as she instinctively raised her arms to protect herself from an attack. However, instead of attacking, the golem stood there, as if it was waiting. When she looked back up, she could see that the eyes of the golem were no longer glowing, indicating that it had been turned off.

Flora then walked over to the deactivated golem, before she tapped a sigil on the back of its neck, as it glowed, and slowly melted the golem down, as it revealed the burning crystal of fire inside, as she pocketed it.

"I assume that this should be sufficient enough to prove my success in this trial, I hope...?" Flora asked both Mayumi and Keiki.

"I cannot deny the strength and skill of your golem, to leave Mayumi like this." Keiki admitted. "You have done more than pass the trial set for you, but also managed to prove yourself worthy in my eyes, to be a goddess of your own. Perhaps if I shared my divine sculpting arts with you... I wonder what kind of construct you would create... Would it become a powerful god itself...?"

"Lady Keiki..." Mayumi muttered, before she then slowly rose up to her feet, and faced Flora. "Flora... Your golem has fought hard and well, to emerge victorious over me. I give my deepest respects to you, for you have created someone who is an equal to not just me, but to the power of the entire Haniwa Corps."

"I have no need of your flattering words, Mayumi... I have merely done what I was required to do, in order to advance through this ordeal." Flora answered back warmly. "I hope that the both of you will be able to have a good future from now on, like the one that I have been granted by someone who was benevolent enough."

"So you were saved by someone benevolent... Truly... generosity thrives on!" Keiki cheerfully stated.

The door then appeared in the middle of the field, as the three of them noticed it appearing.

"It seems that your time here is over. Go forth, Flora... And create your own future, where you will be free of oppression." Keiki declared. "Know that you will go along with the blessings of a great sculptor god."

"I thank you for the blessing." Flora answered back gratefully, before she then entered the door, and left the area.


	10. Final Chapter

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Final Chapter: Decisive Battle - Friends vs. Comrades...!?

* * *

_With Richard and Gus..._

Richard and Gus strode down the corridor, as the two leading members of the Unmei Force advanced onward, while they looked around.

"Richard... Who do you think we will be fighting?" Gus asked back, as he looked towards him with a worried expression. "I feel like that-"

"I know. You're concerned about me, and I've kept in mind that things could get worse for us." Richard answered back. "However, we set ourselves on this path, and we're going to see it through. Nothing would be more painful and heart-shattering than to back down right here, and return empty-handed. Think about our friends, Gus... They are fighting for us, and they'll win for us with all they got. Are you really going to let that will and determination go to waste?"

"...No." Gus shook his head. "I'm sorry, Richard. It's just... Despite how things went smoothly for all this time... I worry that there will be something dire ahead of us. DW said that he tailored our opponents specifically for each of us. Then could that mean...?"

"There are so many options that he would have, but I'm not afraid to face any of them." Richard answered back. "Whether it be my second mentor, or my long-lost comrade or anyone else... I won't hesitate to use my full power to bring them down."

"Then I can only do the same." Gus answered back, before he noticed that they have reached the door. "Past here... is our challenge. The greatest of them all, one that we both must stand against... Are you ready?"

"As I ever will be." Richard smirked back pridefully, before they both pressed their hands on the door, as they slid open for them.

When they passed through the door, they found themselves in a very large room, which seemed to have hexagonal panels on the ground, as well as pulsating power units on the four walls, protected by barriers made of seemingly-unbreakable material. They noticed that the entire field was completely barren, save for these features as they looked around.

"...Hm. This is where we're fighting...?" Richard stated, looking around. "It doesn't look much, but there is always more than meets the eye, with these strange places."

Gus walked about the area, as he found that the ground was fairly even, despite there being crevices between each hexagonal panel on the ground, and when he brushed his hand on them, he found that in between these crevices were large binding locks that filled most of the crevices' space. And then, moving towards the centre of the field, he found that there was two large hexagonal panels on the sides, as they looked large enough for either of them to stand inside of.

"Richard... I think that I found something...!" Gus shouted to his partner, who rushed over quickly, before he then gestured at the hexagonal panels. "I found something that doesn't seem to match the patterning in this room. I might be being overly cautious, but the way it's placed and the looks of these panels... I think that there's something hidden within them."

"You're right to suspect here... We haven't even known where our enemies are. These panels... Could they serve some purpose...?" Richard asked, as he walked around the panels, examining them closely. "Could they be teleporters, ready to drop our enemies onto us...? Are they some sort of energy supply point, for when the enemy fights us...? The possibilities are quite a lot, and I can't narrow it down, unless I give it a good thorough searching. If the components are locked in place, then I'll just scan the places."

Richard then stood still in between the two large floor panels, as he closed his eyes, and spread his senses slowly outwards. As he scanned the area with his magic, he found that the panels themselves had nothing in them. However, after a bit more scanning, he was able to sense something below the panels, as it seemed to be quite dormant, but still strong enough to be picked up by Richard's senses, as magic energy.

"I found something, Gus." Richard informed his friend. "There's something below these panels, and they seem to be large concentrations of energy. I doubt that these are merely energy generators of some sort, and I can't sense any lifeforce from them. I can only conclude that these are magic constructs of some sorts."

"What? Then could they be our opponents?" Gus asked back.

"I doubt that this guy would be so cocky to send simple constructs of magic against us. We're moving back in position, and keeping our guard up. Who knows what will happen once they spring up." Richard remarked.

The two of them rushed back to a fair distance away from the panels, before they drew their weapons and adopted a combat stance each, prepared for what might come.

Soon, the large panels glowed, before they could hear the sound of locks hissing open on them. And with a whooshing sound, the panels rose themselves, to reveal what was inside of them, as it was large charging stations containing what seemed to look like humans inside of them, if not for the fact that the group could see the various wiring and machinery in the charging stations. However, it was the people themselves, that caused the duo to freeze up with expressions of pure shock.

"This... This can't be...!" Gus exclaimed. "I... This... Richard... We were both right about what we were expecting as opponents... No wonder that they would have actually made this kind of enemy for us..."

"I can understand why that crafty bastard selected them... But still... the fact that I'm seeing it before me, still surprises me." Richard answered back. "I'd much prefer something other than this combination of enemies. Especially when one part of this pair... is actually myself..."

Before them, was a copy of Richard himself, as he was dressed in a attire different to the real deal, as he was wearing futuristic armour that was coloured black and white, with pulsating silver energy lines running across various parts of the armour, as well as having some sort of glowing core on the centre of its chest, which seemed to be made of transparent material, as it was faintly glowing with a white colour. The other one was a a man with spiked up black hair, and a very bulky figure, which was prominent under his armour, which seemed to be the same as the Richard look-a-like, except with red and black colouring, and no energy lines running down his armour, nor a core on the front of his chest. And placed beside them were what seemed to be their weapons, as the Richard copy possessed twin swords, which seemed to have a energy projection device where the blade is supposed to be, and the black-haired one had a large golden blade, which seemed to have a thin blade.

"You have got to be fucking me..." Richard remarked with a bitter expression. "He actually managed to create a copy of myself, and one of Siege...? I can only say that with how life-like they look, they have to be androids. Very well-made androids. Then this guys knows a hell lot, if he is able to replicate this much onto both of them. Either way, I guess that we were right to prepare ourselves... This is going to be a real damn fight, considering how powerful I and Siege would be... and I don't want to imagine if that guy tweaked them to make them stronger than their counterparts... And then there's synergy... If they actually got more than us... We're screwed."

"I agree... This fight is going to be quite hard. They'll likely hit us with all their power to take us down. We'll need to work even harder to keep up with their power." Gus answered back. "Richard... Although it's not my part to say this at this moment, but don't let your guard down, and don't let your willpower diminish either."

"Damn right I won't. If I slip up the slightest here, and they spot it, I'm going to be torn six ways to hell." Richard grunted back. "The same to you, Gus. Don't hold anything back, but don't prematurely pop off your own form change yet. If I know my final-boss tropes well... They'll have a transformation of their own. And we'll need our own to keep the field even for us."

Suddenly, there was the sound of whirring, as they became extremely alert, shifting into a defensive stance. As they did, they saw that the charging stations dislodged the androids down on the ground, as they fell forwards. However, both of them reacted in time, as they slammed onto the ground kneeling, almost simultaneously, like synchronised beings. Soon, the Richard android slowly raised his head, as his eyes were now open, revealing his crimson-red eyes, which unnerved Richard for a moment, before slowly standing up.

"Start-up processes complete. All systems are functioning at 99.99% functionality at minimum." The android spoke in a emotionless tone, in Richard's voice. "Detecting unregistered entities within vision range. Consulting internal database for related entries... Search complete. Targets 1 and 2 are designated Richard Liu and Gus Campbell respectively. Leader and Co-Leader of the newly-formed Unmei Force. Threats Levels of targets are Epsilon 1 and Epsilon 7 respectively. Receiving direct orders: 'DWH Unit R-X058 and DWH Unit S-X625 are to engage present targets, with full power.'. Orders confirmed and execution is underway."

The Richard android then spreads his arms out, before the blades slotted in his charging station, flew out and were grabbed by the android,as the energy projectors flared into action, creating large triangular blades, which were silver in colour. At the same time, the Siege android rose up, before it then walked over to his charging station, and ripped his blade out of it with great force, before turning back to face Richard and Gus, as the blade was enveloped in a golden aura.

_Cue BGM: __ Mega Man X8 'Winged Reploid ' [Lumine Second Phase Remix from Megaman X8, by Juan Medrano/OverClocked ReMix]_

"Engaging enemy targets." The Richard android stated, slowly walking towards the duo. "Switching systems to combat routines. Beginning enemy subjugation."

The Richard clone then swung his blades up, as it charged right at its fleshy counterpart, who quickly shifted his blades to defend against the attack. The android then brought down his blades, as Richard himself blocked it with his weapon, struggling against the attack, before then kicking the android in the chest to create some distance between them.

At almost the same time, Gus noticed the Siege android rush towards him, with his blade up, as Gus counter-charged, going for a rising slash, to counter the over-head strike that the android was going to do. The two attacks clashed, as it knocked them away from each other. Gus then used the chance to fire a series of fireballs at the android, who recovered and dodged all but one of them, as one of them hit the android, yet he didn't flinch at all. The Siege android then rushed towards Gus, before thrusting his blade at Gus, who was grazed by the attack, as the blade easily cut through his robes and into his skin, as he grunted in pain.

Richard then slammed his hand down, creating a series of earth spikes that shot towards his android counterpart, whose core glowed green, as he create a large cyclone that jettisoned him into the air, where the earth spikes couldn't reach him. It then swung its now-green blades at Richard, as it fired off cutting wind projectiles at Richard, who was forced to dodge it, as the sharp projectiles of magic cut into the ground, leaving cut-marks on it.

The Siege android then attacked Gus with a series of wide slashes, which Gus parried with his weapon, before the brown-haired warrior countered with a powerful slash that knocked the android back, as it took damage from the attack, as its armour was dented from the attack, and it flinched visibly from the powerful strike.

Richard then changed tactics, as he then created a large magic circle of light-blue energy, as it spewed a rain of icicles towards the android, whose core and blades turned orange, as it then did a cross-slash, that fired a fiery cross-shaped projectile that collided with the barrage of icicles melting them to pieces. However, Richard used that as a distraction to rush towards the android, before he then sliced with both of his blades, as the android was hit several times, before he then parried his other attacks, and then retaliated by creating a ring of flames that forced Richard back.

The Siege android then swung his large blade down onto Gus, who tried to block the attack, only to see that the android was holding the blade in one hand, as he used the other hand to smash Gus in the abdomen with a powerful blow that knocked the wind out of Gus, as he could feel the attack's force ripple through his body, as he felt his own bones strain from it, making the blow very painful for him. The Siege android then dropped the blade, before he then smashed Gus right in the face with a powerful straight that sent Gus flying, as the punch was enough to break his nose to dribble blood.

"Gus!" Richard exclaimed, seeing his friend being smashed mercilessly by his opponent. He then was forced to block a attack from his android counterpart, whose blades and core turned icy-blue, as the energy blades seemed to make his own blades freeze up. Richard was surprised seeing this, as he tried to wrench his blades free from the growing ice, managing to do so with some effort, then coating his blade in flames to melt the ice off. The Richard android then thrust one of his blades forward, as a large icy torrent headed Richard's way, forcing the black-haired magician to erect a barrier of flames to ward it off.

Gus slowly rose up, as he saw the Siege android chasing after him, before he then placed a hand out, waiting for the opportune moment to attack the charging android. When the android was close enough, Gus clenched his hand, as the ground where the android was going through was showered with dark-orange flames, which seemed to look much more powerful than his regular flames, as it singed the android, whose charge was halted, as it quickly rushed out of the flames, as its skin was burnt severely by the attack, and surprisingly didn't seem to have burnt off any holes to reveal what was inside, as the android looked like it was in pain.

Richard then expelled his own barrier of flames out, as it got rid of the cold torrent, before he then quickly cast some magic, firing off several long curved beams of energy, that honed onto the android, as they seemed to strike their targets, as the android was unable to dodge the attack, instead blocking them as much as possible. It then countered with a beam of white energy, its internal energy turning the same colour, as Richard dodge-rolled to the side, before he then fired off a large fire-ball that struck his counterpart hard enough to make him flinch.

The Siege android visibly scowled at Gus, before he then pulled his blade out, before then slashing down ruthlessly on Gus, who was forced to block all the attacks, as the attacks came too fast for him to have a chance to counter with anything. Suddenly, Gus found his guard being smashed open by a powerful upwards strike that knocked his blade out of his guarding position. Siege then slashed Gus hard enough to daze him, before he then threw his blade into the air, as it spun rapidly in the air. He then jumped up into the air, grabbing the blade, as it glowed brighter than before, before he then came down from above with a swift downwards slash, which left a trail of gold where the blade went, as the attack hurt Gus greatly, as he staggered back, clutching his wound with one hand, as it seemed to have drew blood from the attack, which broke through his protections. He then threw a spray of flames forward, as it forced the android to back off.

"Alright... This is getting tedious..." Richard growled, before he then grabbed a spell-card. "Let's see you try to match this...! Declare Spell Card! Fire Sign: 'Dragon's Fury'!"

A red magic circle then surrounded Richard's figure, as he fired stream of fireballs everywhere, that snaked around the area, as well as firing off ring-like bursts of fireballs. The attack went towards both androids, as they realised that the attack was aiming for them both, as the Siege android turned his attention away from the injured Gus for a moment, and faced Richard, who was strafing through the air, all while keeping eye on both of his targets.

The Richard android focused on dodging his real counterpart's attacks, all while it's core and energy turned dark-blue slowly, as the core began to glow while it was evading the attacks. The other android was actually also dodging the attacks, although he was using the blade itself to fire golden projectiles of energy at Richard, who dodged most of them, as the rest hit against him, although they failed to make him flinch the slightest. After a while, the Richard android countered with a gushing torrent of water that sped towards Richard, as it extinguished any fireballs that were in its path.

Richard barely noticed the attack, but it was too late to do anything, as the water torrent hit him head-on, as it forcibly dispelled his spell-card, the magic circle around his figure vanishing. He then fell towards the ground, before he then regained control over himself, before he could hit the ground, swiftly twisting himself around to land on his feet, all while shaking the water soaking his body entirely.

He then noticed both of the androids heading towards him, their weapons out, as he was forced to use both of his blades to block the attacks from both sides, as he used a single blade to counter the blows from the twin-blades of his android counterpart, while the other contested with the large sword that the Siege android had. For him, it was a losing battle, as they were forcing him back, slowly cornering him, all while they were whittling his guard down with their flank attack. When he tried to block another set of slashes heading his way, he instead found himself being kicked simultaneously by the androids, as the synchronised kick, sent him flying across the room.

Gus watched with horror, as Richard slammed on the hard wall, before falling down on the ground. The black-haired leader tried to get up, only to collapse on his hands, all while Gus could see the fatigued expression on Richard's face. The androids rushed over towards him, as they were moving fairly slowly, as if they were avoiding any interceptions that they might receive on the way to reaching their opponent. Gus slowly rose up, as he was about to cast flames onto the androids, although he was too far to be able to effectively do so.

As the androids reached him, they looked down at the hunched-over Richard, as they slowly raised their blades to finish their opponent off without hesitation. However, they then saw his head rise, to reveal a triumphant expression on his face.

"Ha... Got you." Richard smirked defiantly, as the androids found that their legs were being restrained to the ground, by thick ice grown from the ground. They then saw that they originated from the magic circles below them, which in turn were connected to Richard's hands, that was on the ground, connecting the magic circles through veins of energy. "You should have tried to finish me from a distance... It's statistically more safer overall, don't you think? And now you're going to regret it!"

Richard then whipped out another spell-card. "Here's one that'll hurt you hard! Declare Spell Card! Wind Sign: 'Emerald Wind'!" He declared, as there was a large green magic circle surrounding him. He then fired off a massive barrage of green wave projectiles of wind magic, as they sliced through the androids like a rain of thousand blades. "Now, Gus! Hit them with your heavy-hitting techniques!"

Gus complied, as he rushed towards the bound androids, as he drew back his blade, before he then slowly traced through the air with it, while it ignited furiously, and left behind fireballs where it went, as they followed Gus. Soon enough, there was a massive spread of fireballs in front of Gus. And with the flick of his blade, the fireballs shot towards the android, as the two-pronged assault damaged them even further, as the magic circle under their feet maintained the ice bonds for a bit longer, keeping them unable to evade the attacks, as they were unable to properly defend the attack, that was too dense and powerful to properly do so.

After the spell-card ended for Richard, he then rushed towards his counterpart, as Gus did the same with the Siege android, as they roared as one, smashing their opponent with a devastating charge attack, that finally sent the androids flying back. The two of them watched silently, as the androids skidded across the ground for a bit, before they stopped, lying on their backs.

"...Did we..." Gus stated, before he then shook his head. "No... It won't be over that easily."

"You're right about that... Take this brief moment to get a breather... We're going to round 2, or phase 2 to be exact..." Richard huffed back, before he inhaled deeply, and focused on stemming his pain and recovering some of his lost magic energy and stamina.

Gus did the same as he let the flames lick over his gashes, as the flames didn't seem to harm him, although they cauterised his open wounds effectively, leaving only small blemishes with even smaller scars on his body.

After a while, the androids began to move again, as they slowly rose back to their feet. Richard and Gus snapped out of their own recovery, eyeing their opponents carefully. They then saw the androids began to charge power to themselves, as the core on the Richard android's chest was slowly turning into a multi-coloured rainbow, while the Siege android was sparkling with golden electricity from his surroundings.

_Cue BGM: Twilight of the Gods [Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Final Map Theme]_

The Richard android's energy lines turned in a multitude of colours, before he then let out a raging howl, as wings of energy in the shape of short light beams, each of the colours of elements, totalling to eight, four for each side, as his eyes cycled between colours. As for the Siege android, he let out a bellow of strength, as his hair turned golden, and a golden aura appeared around his body, before he then stared down his opponent, with much more spirit in them.

"Well, looks like they're pushing further..." Richard answered back, before he then sheathed the blade on his right hand, to prepare for his Master Form transformation. "You still have that transformation of yours...? I recall that you use it fairly little, since you're not the kind of person to end up fighting battles that require use of it, since it really drains the hell out of you, just as much as using this form of mine is."

"I do. And I won't hesitate. I'm not foolish enough to risk fighting as I am right now, since our enemies are now far more stronger." Gus answered back, before he then shifted the blade in front of him, and closed his eyes. "No matter what the cost is... The others are counting on us... This might not be enough... But I rather try and fail, then never try to begin with."

"Fine choice. Well then, if they want to take this up a notch..." Richard answered back, as he quickly transformed into Master Form. "We'll gladly oblige."

Gus took a deep breath, before he summoned the deep-orange flames that he used before, as they slowly engulfed him, covering him in a pillar of flames. When it disappeared, it revealed him, with his hair burning with dark-orange glow, and his entire body was encompassed in a set of light armour that seemed to be eternally burning in fire. The blade in his hand also transformed, as the blade itself turned from metal into pure flames, which flickered in the air. He slowly opened his eyes, which were completely orange, as a aura of heat surrounded him.

The androids attacked first, as the Siege android literally vanished from their vision. It was thanks to both Richard's and Gus's instincts, that they were able to erect defences against his incoming attack, with Richard using a short frontal barrier made of rainbow magic, and Gus with a wall of flames that seemed to weaken the attack that went through it. The Siege android cut his weapon into the barriers, which seemed to hold against the attack reliably, before he then retreated quickly, before he could be hit with retaliation.

The Richard android then prepared some magic of his own, as he created a massive magic circle in front of him, that started at a silver colour, before it suddenly turned blue, before firing a large storm of icicles at the two of them. Richard noticed the magic attack coming towards him, as he dispelled the barrier, before he then spread both of his arms out, as one hand had a red glow to it, while the other had a brown glow to it. He then created a magic circle that seemed to be a mesh of both colours, before it then spewed forth a rain of magma that shot forth, as it met the icicle stream head-on, with the cooled magma heading towards the android, who then used his now prismatic blades to slice the magma to shreds, before it could reach him, in one swift motion.

Gus then made his own attack, as he summoned blades of fire all over him, before he then fired the flaming swords at the androids, who were hit by them, as they were too many by number, and the power of them was strong enough to deal damage to them, even in this empowered form. The Richard android even tried to destroy several of the blades, and succeeding, but it didn't protect him enough against Gus's attack. The Siege android seemed to fare a little better, as his figure seemed to be built to resist attacks.

The Richard android then stepped forward, before it then shot forth, before meeting Richard in close-combat, as the two of them clashed with each other, with each of their own pair of blades, as the exchange was so fast that it seemed like a blur to the typical observer's eye, with how fast they were striking at each other. Noticing that Gus was singled out away from his ally, the Siege android rushed towards Gus to engage him, as Gus blocked a powerful charging swing from the android, which pushed him back, as the flames seemed to be stopping the blade itself.

At the same time, Richard and his android double placed a hand in front of each other's face, as there was a magic circle in front of each other's palm, as they fired off a pulse of light energy and fire energy respectively on each other, as they were knocked back. Richard recovered first, as he quickly cast ice on his palm and used it cool the slight burns on his face, taking the fire magic point-blank, while the android was fumbling around, as the light magic seemed to have blinded it somehow. Richard took this opportunity to smash the android into the air with a well-placed earth pillar, before he then created a series of dark blue and white magic circles that fired off a series of homing lasers that struck the android mid-air, before Richard finished off his attack with a summoned ice floe right on top of the android, crushing it to the ground.

The Siege android then assaulted Gus with a series of sword slashes, before then finishing off with a rising slash. Gus used his blade of flames to block most of the attacks, as he was being pushed back bit by bit with each attack. However, by enduring the attacks, he managed to get the android to expose a moment of vulnerability that he took advantage of, by create a fire pillar that engulfed the android, as it was burned even more severely, as the burns on its skin worsened. Gus then did a rising slash of his own, striking the android, and knocking him back.

Richard and Gus, after pushing back their opponents, quickly formed up on each other, standing side by side, as the Siege android noticed its comrade stuck under the ice floe, before the Richard android melted himself out of the ice with some well-placed fire magic, although it was slightly damaged from the attack, judging from the way it delayed its actions a little.

"Gus..." Richard stated, turning to Gus. "You ready?"

Gus nodded, as he then placed his blade in front of him, while Richard smirked, and slowly changed his aura into one of fire. The androids were on high alert, as they examined their opponent's movements carefully, as they didn't dare to make a move, when their opponent is already planning to attack. The flames of Gus's blade slowly began to expand outwards, as they twisted into shape of something.

"If you androids are capable of understanding what I have to say... I'm actually impressed that we're fighting at even levels... But we're just at the right moment to end this." Richard mocked them, as he slowly stepped forward. "You see, you have managed to copy the abilities of your counterparts well, I have to admit, especially when you popped off that form of yours, android me. But that doesn't mean that you're perfect as a pair. Because you forgot the one thing that's vital to a tag-team of fighters."

The fires on Gus's blade slowly moulded in a large phoenix of fire, as Gus's aura of fire was slowly flowing into the phoenix of fire, making it even larger. "A combination attack." Richard declared, before he then jumped into the air. "And this one is going to be the one strike to settle this fight."

Gus then swung his blade forward, as he fired the phoenix of fire at them, and Richard landed right on top of it, riding it while standing. He twisted his legs slightly, as he seemed to be controlling the phoenix of fire instead of Gus at the moment, as it weaved in accordance to his movements. He then leaned back, as the phoenix shot right towards the high ceiling, while the androids traced its path carefully, all while ignoring Gus, who was creating another great ball of fire in his palms, which was slowly growing in size.

When he was at a certain height, he flattened out the phoenix's path, even pointing it downwards directly towards the androids, before creating a massive magic circle that seemed to block the phoenix from flying forward. However, Richard was slowly infusing fire magic into it, as it was slowly turning red. At the same moment, Gus then completed the massive ball of fire in his hands, as the deep-orange projectile of flame impacted the magic circle, lighting it up in flames of the same colour.

"Taste the power of a master of true fire and an elementalist combined!" Richard roared, as he then leapt off the phoenix, before it then went through the magic circle. "Our combined technique! PHOENIX CRASH!"

The phoenix then entered the flaming magic circle, as it grew a few sizes larger, as well as the flames that made its body burning even more fiercer, with even flickered of dark-blue flames amidst them, as it let out a majestic screech, before it shot towards the androids. The androids reacted at the threat, as they fired their own attack. The Richard android performed what seemed like a copy of Richard's Arcana Beam, and the Siege android was in a familiar stance, cupping its hands, as blue energy gathered in its hand, before that energy turned golden. And then at the same time, beams of rainbow and gold were fired, as they clashed with the phoenix, stopping it from advancing, while the androids were still keeping their attacks up. Richard and Gus exerted even more power, as the flames of the phoenix, empowered by both of their powers, became even more fiercer, as it pushed slowly against the beams of the android units, even with how powerful their respective beams were.

Eventually, the androids' power supplies gave out, as their beams died off, and they lost all power to fight back. The phoenix then crashed right into them, exploding a massive sphere of burning fire, bright and destructive, as Richard slowly lowered himself down on the ground, while the attack's aftereffects lingered for a moment.

When the sphere of fire was gone, the androids that were hit by the attack, were utterly devastated, as their skin was charred into ash, and their expressions were sealed in wide eyes, with expressions of unnatural calmness, as if they accepted their fates, with the light from their eyes gone, mostly due to either their internal systems overheated, or even burnt into slag and useless material. Either way, to both of the Unmei Force members, the truth was apparent: They were soundly defeated.

When that fact came to realisation for both of them, Richard immediately fell onto his back, as his Master Form dissipated into nothing. "Aaaaaaaahhh... We did it, Gus... We beat myself, and Siege... or least what would pass as the best imitations of both, in a no-holds barred tag-team battle..." He heaved out in a long breath, while panting heavily. "...How does it feel...? Being satisfied that we've gone so far since the days we became mere heroes...?"

"...It feels nice..." Gus answered back, before his form also reverted back to normal, and he fell onto his knees. "And the tiredness is already kicking in... Using a combination attack like that, while we're already using energy-exhausting forms on top of that... I think that we won't be able to fight a serious fight for a while, until we have a proper rest."

"We'll have all the time to rest." Richard sighed back with a smile. "We won, didn't we...? And since I know that the others won... The trials are over... We've did it... We'll finally get our answers, and save Gensokyo once and for all..."

"But what about this place?" Gus asked back. "What about all of the people we befriended here...?"

"About that... Hm..." Richard said, before he then paused for a moment. "You know, as long as the Ryujin still have the dimensional coordinates for this certain multiverse... We can often come back to visit. Hell, we can take Elma, Ieyasu, Isara, Flora and Erika back with us to Gensokyo. They'll fit in, the odd-balls they all are... But our realm's safety is top priority... Do remember that Gensokyo is on borrowed time already... and we must continue on, so that we can solve the crisis before it is too late."

"...I think that we'll need a while, before we can start moving again." Gus stated to Richard.

"Then let us take as long as we like... The others can wait for the good news." Richard chuckled lightly.

After a few moments, Richard and Gus were indeed rested enough to get back up onto their feet, as they looked around for the door to leave the room. They found it, as they passed through it, although Richard did give the burnt androids one last look, before he then left the room.

* * *

_In the central hub..._

Richard and Gus returned back to the hub, as everyone else was there, with varying reactions to the completion of their trial, as they all turned to the recently-victorious pair.

"It was a hard job... But we managed to beat it." Richard smiled back at everyone, with a hopeful tone. "I'm sure that you all succeeded. And by the looks on your faces... There were different circumstances for all of you. Remembrance, reluctance, excitement, satisfaction... It's what I would expect from you guys..."

"That's great!" Sanae stated. "Then that means..."

Soon, the hologram image of DW returned, as all eyes turned to him. The holographic scientist clapped his hands in applause, with a praising smile on his expression.

"Excellent, truly excellent, all of you!" DW declared. "You have managed to complete all of my trials with each of your victories. Not only that, but I think that one of you learned a lesson that will be burned into your minds, and make you realise the full potential that all of you have."

Elma looked toward DW with grateful eyes, as only Reimu was the one who caught that look, although she didn't exactly care, since she wasn't sure what DW exactly meant with those words.

"Right then... Since you have passed your trials, I'll uphold my side of the bargain." DW stated, before they group could hear hissing sounds. "Stand steady, all of you, it's time to take you all down!"

The group did what they were asked to do, as the area around the circular console, turned out to be a elevator platform, as it slowly descended down into the depths of the facility. It went down a long elevator shaft, before it then entered a large room, whose walls were filled with futuristic storage pods, each with labels indicating a identification code. In front of them was a large computer console, which seemed to be on standby for the moment. The ground then heard hissing under the circular consoles, as they stepped away from it, as it slowly moved along what seemed to be rails, slowly connecting with the large console. The moment it did, the console turned on, lights, screens, and panels. The hologram of DW was still on the circular console during the whole time, as he remained silent, until the console reached its destination.

"Alright then, now that we're here... I'm going to cut to the chase." DW stated, folding his hands underneath his chin. "You know, it would to stupid not to reward you guys for going through everything you did, just to collect these X-Stones, in order to seek the truth that I promised to your leader. No, no, that would be being cheap. So I decided to offer you three boons, now redeemable, so long as they are within my bounds. And trust me, there is very little I CAN'T do, but the possibility still exists, and there are limits on how far I can go. After all, pissing off the local god and goddesses is a big no-no in my case. After I granted those boons, then you'll have your million-dollar question answered. So get going, decide among yourselves what these boons are."

The group bunched up together, as they discussed things.

"Right... So he'll give us three things, all as a favour for going through all these trials, and everything beforehand. We can't waste these wishes on something petty. That means money or treasure, for you, Velouria and Reimu." Richard stated. "We'll need something that'll help us out in the long run. Or at least can affect the short-term in a way that will keep on benefiting us potentially in the future. I'm open for suggestions."

"Well, an obvious one is that we need to get far more damn stronger, right?" Marisa suggested. "After all, you said it yourself, we got a lot of catching up to do, before we can actually keep up to all the guys we'll have to face. It's proven back when we were in that strange world with all those gods and goddesses. I think that Yukari's help did far more than we expected."

"Alright, I agree with that. Who wants to counter that point?" Richard asked back, as no-one raised any objections. "Right, no-one is unhappy about getting more power, so long as the power is gained properly. If any of you are concerned about that, I'm not going to ask for some sort of steroids for instant gains, or any shady methods of gaining power. I'll just ask if there is something to increase our potential, so that we can train past our original limits of power, and get stronger than what we could have before. That sounds legal and fair?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, as Richard mentally jotted down the point in his head.

"Richard... Should... Should we wish for youth for Flora and Gunter? I know that their age is fitting for them, considering their experience and skill..." Elma stated. "But... But their age restrains them... from achieving their true power. You're not like demons... You lose what was once your strength, when you're past your peak age... ever so slowly... I don't want to let that happen to either of you."

"Elma..." Gunter remarked, before he then sighed as he turned to Richard. "If that is the wish that we will agree upon... Then I will consent to it. I know that it may sound sinful, but I would jump at any opportunity to regain my lost youth, so that I can be stronger than ever, in order to protect Lady Corrin and those dear to her. That is my sole desire for attaining youth."

"...It seems that you are dead-set on the wish." Flora stated, before she then smiled. "I may sound as a hypocrite in accepting this deal, with all I have told my apprentice... But I understand that this is for the benefit of all of us, and I cannot make a counter-argument regarding that. So long as the method comes with a cost that I am willing to pay... Such as a fragment of my power... Then I will humbly accept."

"Right, second boon is for youth then." Richard nodded, before he then looked over the others. "Any idea what our third boon will be? I think that there is little else that we will need, since we've got mostly what we need, and the two previous requests just dealt with what we can't achieve even with all of our power and influence."

"There is one." Reisen stated, crossing her arms. "We were in dire need of numbers for our organisation. Do not mistake my words, our army is sufficient enough to act as a proper faction in this multiverse, albeit a minor one that is fairly few in number. We require more people to help us, if we are to be able to handle the various chaotic situations that this multiverse has been in. Do not forget that we were also targeted by the 'Light Incident' as well, and would have been targeted, had it not been for Yukari's intervention."

"...You are right about that. It should be easy for a guy like DW... considering what he can do..." Richard hummed. "But we can't just bring people over willy-nilly... Even if Yukari needs a very long time to transfer members of Gensokyo to us, a few at a time, with this massive distance between realities... It's not worth burning our boon over. Besides, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that this guy would be able to do what she can't. Even if she wasn't tangled up with maintaining Gensokyo... She wouldn't be able to send everyone here in one go."

"Then we'll just ask him to send what we can." Reisen proposed. "We can compromise, since we are not in grave danger at the moment."

"Send what we can... But even so, then they'll need to train to get stronger. It's going to be a hard time trying to get them to our level, after we spent years training ourselves in much more hellish environments, just to keep up with the power scale here." Richard sighed, before he then thought of something. "Wait... Actually, I might have an idea with all of this. It may sound overly creative, and thus hare-brained, but I think that this can benefit all of us further than just simply sending them over to us."

"I'm listening. Shoot." Fox responded back.

"If it can be possible, we can actually have DW mould them into summons of some sort. Although this only means that they only have a brief presence in this reality... The power that we can stand to gain... and the contribution they will provide in the future battles... It will be worth more than what would stand to lose, many times over." Richard explained. "Think about it, in terms of game tropes, having summons to dish out burst damage to annihilate enemies that would be a few tiers above us, is a unmistakable boon for all of us, don't you think? And besides, summon or member, the girls still can socialise with us, and stand to gain along with us. In fact, think about it, Eidolons, except they actually can level up and get stronger and stronger. Wouldn't that be pretty damn sweet?"

Sanae was nodding excitedly, as the imagery in her head, stimulated her joy of the idea greatly, while the others thought about it.

"Of course it would!" Sanae cried out. "If the guys from the Ultra Hero Alliance can do it, with the likes of the FF classic Eidolons, and many other powerful entities, then we can use the same thing to our advantage! Not only that, but it would be so badass to see all of our friends kicking ass with their ultra-destructive moves!"

"Tone down the enthusiasm." Richard answered back, gesturing for Sanae to calm down. "But yes, you make a good point. Summoning Eidolons is not our speciality and we'll be extremely unlikely to achieve that... But summoning in general, especially with entities of immeasurable power... That we can achieve. So, thoughts everyone?"

"I wouldn't disagree on it, if you believe that the idea is sound." Corrin stated. "I have personally seen the powers of your friends, and if they are further enhanced... Then they would be forces of nature that cannot be easily stopped, not even by gods and deities."

"Well, I can't see anything wrong with that. If that DW guy tries to scam us on that, I'll personally make my own complaint on that bastard." Reimu added. "However strong he and his little facility is, it won't easily handle getting a Fantasy Heaven smashed right into it point-blank."

"So the two of you agree with it then?" Richard stated, before he then saw the others gave looks of approval, and nod a little as well. "And you all seem to have agreement on this. Flora, you're the one whose expertise is on esoteric magic, which should including summoning. You don't have any arguments about this one, like with the boon for youth for you and Gunter?"

"I cannot say for sure what he will provide us, but he seems to be genuine on his word. I'll see how he will provide for our previous two boons, before I make my final decision on the matter. Summoning is fairly difficult, but it is possible nonetheless. It's the matter of what one would summon, that is to be questioned. Powerful entities... If there is a way to truly control and reliably summon them to fight for our sake... I will not raise complaints against it."

"Right, then we've made up our choices." Richard nodded, before he then turned to DW. "Oi, DW!"

"Yeah? You finished discussing? I heard some of what you said, especially what your friend Sanae shouted out aloud, but not all of it." DW responded back. "Mind if you clarify what boons you were discussing about, and have decided upon."

"Gladly." Richard responded back, before raising a finger up. "Our first boon to be requested, is for a means to, in specific detail, to raise our own limits for our potential, in magic and power. If there is a cost to acquiring this kind of boon, what it would cost upon ourselves, in either blood, spirit or mind, we would like to be informed on that."

"So you are not requested for a instant power-up, but requesting for the means to get stronger. You do have our own ways of doing that, but you don't seem to be happy with just that, even though the training does have an effect on you, because there is always a cap on how strong one can become, before pushing past it gets tedious and difficult." DW muttered to himself. "A reasonable boon, and one that I can grant."

Soon, from the large console itself, a large drone popped out of it, as it went to one of the storage units, before activating it to open, collecting its contents inside its storage compartment, before it then flew down, and slowly dispensed the contents inside of it slowly in front of them, right on top of the holographic projector. It was revealed that the contents of the storage unit was actually small flasks that contained a small dose of liquid that seemed to swirl between red and purple colours.

"Here is my own patented potion, used to deal with that little problem. With a single dose inside of these flasks, you'll find yourselves feeling like Goahn after his visit to Elder Guru." DW answered back, as Richard grabbed one of them swishing the liquid around its glass flask. "You'll find that your own limits have been pushed further, meaning that you can train up more of your potential strength and power. In terms of gaming terms, this would be akin to limit breaking, and a effective one at that. What's more, is that the solution is easily absorbed, so you won't feel crushing bouts of pain and agony. That's old-school. It'll diffuse itself in a matter of days, even weeks, making the process quite smooth."

"Hm. It perfectly fits our needs." Richard remarked, before he then grabbed the flasks, and handed them to Gus and Antonio to hold onto, as there was enough doses for all of them. "But I assume that there is more to that, is there."

"Well, you can keep on dosing yourself as much times as you need. Hell, I'll even send your friends the recipe and method to create these kinds of things. It's extremely difficult and precise, and making them takes a year on average. Not to mention that the ingredients to make this, are in places you have yet to know of, or have visited yet. But you'll eventually find all you need for it, which is why sending you this would help out." DW replied back, keeping his cheerful tone, before his expression hardened. "Although there is one little problem with this, and that's one that is really, REALLY, fatal. When you take this kind of thing, you better be sure that you've wrung out 100% of the potential that you have gained from the first dose, before you take the second, and so on for each following dose. Because this solution actually requires a certain level of power in order for it to work properly. No less, not even by a single iota. If that happens, well... I did say that it wouldn't be painful, but that's only if you manage to abide by what I'm saying. Those who fail to use it right... will feel agony that would last a few lifetimes, before it kills them utterly. There are roundabout ways to avoid that kind of death, but the pain will make you wish you died, and it'll leave you crippled for years, even if you DO survive, and that's extremely unlikely, even if you're a physical god. I won't be kidding about this, do NOT try to abuse yourselves by going against my words, I rather not be blamed for something that I did warn you against."

Everyone was silent, as they noticed the sternness from DW's tone, as Richard nodded back. "Your words are heard loud and clear." Richard quietly answered back. "We are not fools enough to risk ourselves doing that."

"Good. Then with all that serious stuff out of the way... I'm sure that's one of your boons fulfilled." DW smiled again. "Now then, what's your next request?"

"This one's a simple one." Richard smiled. "I ask that you give us something that'll revert Gunter and Flora back to their youthful years."

"That's all...? Well, that's fairly humble, but considering that both of them are wizened humans, that still are powerful as hell... I can guess your reason for doing so." DW answered back, as the drone fetched something from another storage unit, as it was two glowing green potions. "There are many ways to revert you back to youth, in all of these worlds, but I decided to mix and match between them to create something that is easy to digest and comes with no cost. Enjoy, my own potion of youth. I assure you that this was not backfire. I tested it myself before, many times, and there is not a single failure. I don't expect my results to betray me now."

Richard then grabbed the potions, before handing them to Gunter and Flora. He then gave them a nod, as the two of them looked at each other for a moment, as they then seemed to reach a solemn agreement, before they then drank down the potion at the same time. As soon as they did, they jolted still, as they took the potion of their lips, as Richard quickly grabbed the empty potion bottles from their hands. Their expression creased greatly, as if they were struggling against something, although they didn't seem to be in pain, but instead some discomfort.

The group watched with interest, as the two elderly members of the Unmei Force slowly turned young again before their eyes. Gunter's grey hair turned to a healthy black once again, as the wrinkles faded from his skin, and his figure seemed to become much more sturdier than before. Flora's hair turned to a vibrant orange, as she looked much more beautiful than she did, as her eyes showed much more spirit in them. After their age reversion was completely, the two of them were left dazed for a moment, before they then moved again, as they blinked several times looking at themselves.

"I've... This has truly worked upon me...!" Gunter remarked, his voice much more youthful and stronger, as he looked at his own body, which seemed to have drastically.

"This youth... I have never thought that I would feel it again." Flora stated softly, as she moved her hands over to the hairband, as she untied it, letting her orange long hair flow free, as she smiled with unmistakable joy. "Truly, this is a miracle that not even the gods would have expected."

"So... It did work without a hitch..." Sanae stated, before she looked at Flora, as she was a little wowed at the younger Flora's beauty. "This is what the great witch Flora would look, if she was younger... Dazzling..."

"And so you can see, that I didn't peddle you snake oil there." DW chuckled. "Same goes with the enhancement potions. Now then, your final boon?"

"This one's not going to be something like a potion, I'm afraid." Richard answered back. "Our final request, is that we have a means to summon our friends, who are faraway from us, as summons of immense power. If you know your stuff, then you would imagine this like summoning great beasts or Eidolons."

"Ah... That's an interesting request. So that's what you meant and why your friend was yelling excitedly about what you were going to get." DW stated, with hand on chin. "You are in luck, as this is something that I can achieve, although it is one of the things that really test my limits on what kind of boons I can give. Still, I have a means for that, and you'll be surprised with what you're going to get. Drone, if you will..."

The drone then moved along, as it seemed to enter the large elevator shaft, flying up it, much to everyone's curiosity. Everyone then waited for a few moments, before it then returned, slowly returning to the console, before then dispensing something, a thing that actually ended up shocking Richard, and everyone else in his group as well.

"What... What the...!?" Richard exclaimed, as he saw the completed X-Stone in front of him, before he then looked up at DW with a flustered expression. "The X-Stone...!? But I thought that thing was a mere Macguffin to bring us here! Why would this be-"

"I think that you know the answer to the question." DW smirked back. "You did witness what the fusion of the X-Stones brought, right? I'm sure that you seen the massive burst of power that resulted from it. The X-Stone ain't just a key, you know, but it is a literal power-device, one of divine proportions, enough to fuel entire worlds with magic power. This, in turn, makes it a suitable conduit for summoning, and it also has the power to convert those friends of yours into the powerful summons you are expecting. I myself don't know the results of this, but I can assure that they are anything but underwhelming."

"Damn... I never thought that..." Richard answered back, as he took the stone in his hand.

"All this time... we were holding onto a power source of unimaginable power..." Fox stated, before he then sighed and placed a hand to his face. "Ah jeez... And not even the great deductive Richard could figure that thing out."

"Summoning with this is very simple, just channel the image of your summon in your head, then channel your power, and release!" DW stated, as he raised a arm into the air. "Like this! Now then, since I have finished granting the boons onto you all... I suppose that this is the time to give you the answer you have been waiting for."

Richard nodded back, before DW shook his head.

"Sorry, but this is something that I can only tell your leader." DW answered back. "Whatever is heard here, is going to be reality-shattering, and I mean the metaphor. Don't get me wrong, you guys wouldn't blab to anyone, but he's the one who wants the answer the most, and the one who has a reason for needing this answer alone by himself. You guys would respect that right?"

"So long as you don't-" Velouria stated, before Richard cut her off.

"Don't, Velouria." Richard scolded her. "...I agree to hear the truth alone. If it is something that the others cannot bear to hear... Then I will bear the harsh truth alone. I have seen a hell beyond mortal imagination. I can handle whatever you have to say."

"Atta-boy, Richard." DW clapped back. "Now then, off you go, the rest of you. The talk will be fairly short."

The others complied, as they stepped onto the elevator platform, as Richard gave them a nod to assure them that he will be fine, before it then rose out of the room.

"Alright, no-one can hear us here. Not that they could, with how deep this room is, inside this large island." Richard told DW. "Lay it on me... Is there a way to save Gensokyo? I want to hear everything. What it will cost, what the consequences will be, and what I must do to achieve this. Not a single detail must be left out."

"I suppose that you earned the right to the truth." DW nodded. "Very well then. The bare truth will be laid onto you, fully."

Richard then took a deep breath, as he listened closely to DW's words.

* * *

_Inside the central hub..._

The group were standing around the elevator, as they were talking amongst each other, as Fox examined the potions they were given.

"Hm... So the guy said that once we take this, we'll be far stronger. But to prevent us from being greedy, we have to reach our limits, completely, before we can take another dose, or it'll end extremely bad for us." Fox summarised DW's advice, before he then smirked slightly. "Interesting way to make things fair, since greed for power brings one's fall if not done properly."

"Either way, if this can give us what we need to get yet stronger... We will take that risk." Corrin answered back. "In all of these worlds, we are not without our faults or problems. If we were stronger... Richard wouldn't have to let the God Hand succeed in their plans."

"And if we were better... Perhaps at Ghirlandaio..." Sanae trailed off, remembering how Selvaria lost her life, before shaking her head. "No, even if we were powerful, we couldn't have prevented that, since her will was to make her last moments a glorious sacrifice. I wouldn't dare disrespect that."

"Either way..." Gus stated, as he looked at the potion in his hand. "If I take this... Then perhaps, just perhaps... I might be able to prove as Richard's equal eventually. He made me stronger, so that I wouldn't have to live in his shadow. Making me the leader back in the war against the Empire, trusting me to take care of the others... He knows that he is only one leader, and he'll need me to take care of things, if something were to happen to him. If that happens... then I'll prove that he didn't make the wrong choice in entrusting me to lead in his stead. That I swear..."

Soon the elevator rose, as it revealed Richard, who seemed to be strangely calm, as everyone turned to him.

"Richard. You're back." Reimu greeted him. "Did that guy tell you...?"

"Yeah, about that..." Richard stated, before his expression twisted slightly. "Not even he has a way to help with that problem."

"So it was in vain then..." Meiling shook her head sadly, hearing the crushing news, while the others from his reality seem to be equally sorrowful to hear the news, as the others saw the sorrow on their faces, as they tried to understand what made them so sad to hear the news.

"Everyone, this is not the time to let out spirits be crushed." Richard told the others firmly, as it made everyone shake off their sadness momentarily, as they saw that Richard's face was determined. "It's not in vain. We gained the means to become stronger, and this is merely one step towards the real answer. He did leave me a hint though. And that is, if I grown yet stronger, then perhaps... just perhaps, I will be able to save Gensokyo by combating the reality glitch itself."

"What... What do you mean?" Elma asked back.

"He told me that my powers, if I develop them enough... I can alter reality itself, much like Yukari would have. In short, I will need to reach the same level as she has, in order to save Gensokyo. With two of the same power, one to protect, one to cure... The reality glitch will become nothing if Yukari was able to focus her full power on it." Richard answered back, before he then smiled. "And the best place to do it... is in this very reality. We will make allies, use the power of bonds and friendship, in order to gain the power to fight against that blight. We will achieve our goal, and nothing will stop us. I'll make damn sure of that."

"So you're telling us we've got a long way to go, until we can help our reality...? And to do so, we have to keep on staying in here?" Velouria asked, before she then shrugged and chuckled. "Ah, why the hell not. We made quite the few friends here, and we're making a reputation from place to place, so why not keep on the business?"

"If our path is to continue spreading justice and equality... Then I would not argue against continuing that duty." Ieyasu answered back. "We are sworn to help those in need, and I will not turn back when there are many worlds where such people exist."

"I'll help you all the same, Richard. Together... We'll make a paradise, so that you'll have a place where you'll see our dreams come true." Elma stated with a smile.

"You guys..." Richard answered back, moved by how his members, especially those who only recently joined, were agreeing, as all of them looked determined. He then wiped a tear from his eye, before he then smiled. "...Ah, that's right. We swore to stay by each others' sides, and stay true to our hearts and ambitions. We're Unmei Force, after all... And Unmei Force... it is a organisation forged of everlasting bonds."

Richard then moved, as he headed to the exit of the building. "Now then, let's head back... You all deserve a break, a long one, after everything we went through." He told everyone.

As he left, Gus could briefly notice Richard's right fist clench for a brief moment, as the others were too distracted about what Richard had said, to notice it.

'_Richard...? He... He doesn't look as happy as he does..._' Gus thought. '_What might be ailing him now...? Could it be... No. I think that the reason for that is because he's a little frustrated that he couldn't get the answer he wanted right now. But he knows that the path ahead is long and hard, but it will grant him a end to all of this. After all... Richard would never give up on the homeland, the one that welcomed and changed him..._'

He then followed after Richard, as they moved up the stairs.

'_No matter what... No matter how... I'll keep pressing on... for the sake of our homeland and our friends..._' Richard thought to himself. '_All the friends we have made, all the people that we have saved... And everything we felt and experienced... All of it will guide us forward... Forward to a future of hope, a future where everyone can be happy and free._'

Richard then exited this building, holding his own ambition to heart, as he continued on, with friends by his side... into a new quest.

* * *

**Unmei Force: Inherited Will **

**E N D**

* * *

**_And yet another chapter closes in the story of the Unmei Force..._**

**_Their story continues on yet, as their quest has not ended..._**

**_Will you be there to witness the new page to their history?_**

**Unmei Force Volume 1**

**Finished**

* * *

A/N: The volume is finally over, after all the years and months I have put into this. I hope that you enjoyed the volume as a whole, since the Unmei Force, much like the member teams of the Ultra Hero Alliance will return in a new set of tales. Don't leave the story yet, as the story itself isn't finished, as there will be two future chapters to this, that will be told in the perspective of two new factions. One that has been mentioned before, one that might come to the surprise of many.


	11. Extra Chapter 1

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Extra Chapter 1: The Lurking Shadows of the Void

* * *

_In Mugen's realm..._

Mugen was left sitting on the throne of darkness that he made for himself, as he watched as Mitsunari and Selvaria bicker again, as they were too prideful in themselves, to be able to get along properly, and he has made several attempts to placate both parties, although it didn't do much in the long-term. He only sighed, with his gauntlet-covered hand under his chin.

"I have no intention working with a arrogant whore who would dare slander the name of Lord Hideyoshi!" Mitsunari venomously declared. "You are not fit to dare to even speak his name with that filthy tongue of yours!"

"Be silent, prideful bastard!" Selvaria snarled back, as her eyes glowed for a moment. "Working with a rabid dog like you ails me down to the very core of my heart. The only reason I would stoop to such extents, so as to collude with you and your master, is because I have no other purpose than to fight for the sake of Maximilian's ambitions!"

"How dare you mock me! I will teach you your place, and spill your blood everywhere in this putrid realm!" Mitsunari roared, as he unsheathed his large blade.

"You dare try to make the attempt, and I will scatter your ashes to the four corners of the world!" Selvaria threatened back.

Mugen, who had enough of this, stomped towards them, before he then snatched the weapons out of the grasp of the two arguing people, as he looked fairly irritated.

"That's enough, both of you." Mugen firmly told them. "I did not have you both come here to bicker like you usually do. I understand what sets each other off, but I'll make this clear: I'll have none of this going too far. You both have no right pointing fingers at each other, especially when you are supposed to be working for me."

"Don't test your luck, bastard." Mitsunari growled at Mugen. "The only reason I humour your offer, is because you WILL bring me to Ieyasu, and allow me to claim his head!"

Selvaria was silent, as she seemed to much less impulsive than Mitsunari, although she did glare at Mugen heatedly, which Mugen returned with a calm look in his eyes, before he then walked back to the throne, before placing the sword by his sides."

"I'll make this very simple. You two of all people, know that you both won't be able to make it out of here, let alone be able to exact your personal vendettas, just by yourselves. I'm not asking you both to be buddy-buddy with each other... But if you want to get your revenge, then the only way you'll stand a chance is to work together with each other and get stronger." Mugen told them. "Or have you forgotten what killed you in the first place, the both of you?"

Mitsunari stiffened, as Selvaria recalled the last moments before she destroyed herself in her Final Flame. They didn't say anything, as Mugen then continued.

"And not only that, these people are definitely not going to be the same after everything that had happened. For you, Mitsunari, Ieyasu will be far, far stronger than what he was before, having spent time training and fighting over and over. You think you can handle that immediately?" Mugen asked back, as Mitsunari scowled, before the black-haired leader turned to Selvaria. "And the same goes with you, Selvaria. I'm offering you the means to get stronger, so that you'll have the power to fight them when the time comes."

"Why are so intent on opposing them, the Unmei Force, as you call it?" Selvaria asked back. "Even if they possess the ones that are the targets of our personal vengeance, by what you have been telling you, why would you pursue them?"

"Hm, that's a real big question you put up there, Selvaria." Mugen answered back with a thin smirk, before he then stood up. "Thing is, these people are heroes. And how do you take care of heroes, and lure them out? By committing villainy. It's not that difficult, for either of you, considering the history behind each of you. You terrorise worlds, and they'll be on us like a shark on the scent of blood. Not only that, but if we do certain things... We can end up sabotaging their developments, which would help us advance. Think about it, severing the sources of power which these people derive power from... Wouldn't it benefit us?"

"...I am no heartless monster." Selvaria responded back bitterly. "I will not do such vile things, if they serve little purpose than to spite and ruin others."

"Well, you got to break a few eggs to make the omelette, Selvaria." Mugen responded back. "Besides, I'm not training you both up to be like that. Well, I bet that Mitsunari would much prefer that, since it'll allow him to carve a path of blood to Ieyasu, and end his life right then and there. Still, I wouldn't learn the attitude to take for our acts from him."

"Which is another reason why I detest him." Selvaria answered back, glaring at Mitsunari, who snarled at those words.

"If you believe that there is sympathy and mercy in war, then you are nothing but a soft-hearted fool, waiting to die." Mitsunari retorted back.

"Regardless, that's what we're all going to do. Interfere with the Unmei Force, build our own forces and power, so that we'll be able to take them down in a decisive showdown. Doesn't matter what it takes... You want your chance to make things right, you'll have to follow me and help me out." Mugen stated.

"But we are so few in number. How do you expect us to get any help?" Selvaria asked back.

"Don't worry about that, I have that covered." Mugen assured the Valkyria. "Speaking of which, I do have a little surprise for us, one that would be quite welcome."

He then snapped his fingers, before a portal of swirling darkness appeared in front of him, as someone stepped out of it, as it was a woman with dark skin, with short straight white hair, that had ruby hairclip inside of it, eyes with purple irises and red pupils, and markings under them, clothing that seemed to be mix between metallic armour and mage robes, all of it purple and having a collar of red feathers, black boots and red markings on her legs, golden bracelets on her arm. She seemed to look a little bit groggy, as she swayed a little where she stood.

"Well now, Cia... It seems that you have been woken up quite suddenly..." Mugen stated, all with the smile on his face. "Now then, how do you feel? Need some time to get rid of that ringing sensation in your head?"

"...Yes..." Cia responded back weakly, as she clutched the side of her head. "Even for someone as powerful myself... being reborn wreaks havoc on one's senses.

"Mugen, who is she?" Selvaria asked, as Mitsunari glared at Cia closely.

"Someone that will be a good addition to our group." Mugen responded back casually. "She's the mage of this little posse we're making. We have the invincible tank, that is you, Mitsunari the blood-knight, and myself...? Well, I see myself as sort of a trickster in this set-up. But to answer your question more specifically, I would like to meet one of the most powerful sorceresses in the history of Hyrule: Cia. She's the dark half of a formerly heart-broken guardian of time, and she was the one responsible for the invasion of Hyrule across space and time. Unfortunately, the one right in this reality has been completely purged, so I can't even grab the residual darkness to make one. But... I have other ways to deal with that, and look what it got me."

"I see... Will she be..." Selvaria asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that. She's a little ax-crazy for Link, but she'll be at least tolerable in other times. Hell, the two of you might actually become magical buddies if you both commit to it." Mugen smiled. "And unlike a certain group of villains, she's not going to end up causing a lot of problems down the line."

Cia then slowly recovered, before she then summoned her staff of darkness to her side. "Now then... Is it time then, Mugen? You have told me that the Link I have known is in this... realm. Will you stay by your word to ensure that you'll bring him to me, so that he will have nowhere to run to?" Cia asked back.

"You have my word." Mugen nodded. "All I ask is your cooperation, and your hand in battles. Nothing more."

"And as we have discussed before, I accept the deal." Cia answered back with a smirk on her lips, before turning to the others. "I look forward to seeing what you are all capable of. A demon of blood in the body of a oriental warlord, and a woman of great destructive power. I'm sure that you will be quite helpful in the future."

"I hope for the same from you." Selvaria answered back, as Mitsunari merely scoffed at that.

"Now then... with the fact that we are gathered here, as a large enough group to be able to handle ourselves... I do have good news for you all..." Mugen stated, before his grin grew wider. "...It's time that we stopped sitting around, and starting making our own moves here."

Everyone turned to him, hearing that, as Mugen then rose his hand.

"We shall traverse the worlds, and make our name as a organisation of evil, one that shall grow to dominate the multiverse." Mugen stated. "When all is said and done, your goals will be fulfilled, and we will have a faction at our beck and call, one that the others will be threatened by, as they will know that we will conquer the multiverse with a empire that will be feared for its iron fist against those who dare oppose it and the values it encompasses. We will become a new order, where the strong rightfully earn their place as the leaders, and those with ambitions will be challenged and forged in the flames of conflict."

The three of them looked at Mugen, as they were surprised to see that Mugen was speaking of such a ambitious goal, although they knew that Mugen was determined to achieve it, no matter what it took, and that their own dreams coincide with Mugen's own, albeit in different ways.

"Let this be the birth of a darkness that shall linger in this multiverse, one that will exist as long as ambition and power exists..." Mugen stated. "Let us become... the **Void Emissaries.**"


	12. Extra Chapter 2

Unmei Force: Inherited Wills

Extra Chapter 2: Birth of an Android's Dream

* * *

_A few moments after the departure of the Unmei Force..._

As the holographic form of DW watched as the heroes leave the facility, before boarding their transport ship, which then warped back to where the GFS Ryujin was, along with its escort, all of them which seemed to have not done a single thing other than observing and waiting, since the trials started. He then closed the video feed showing the outside of the floating island, before he then turned back to the drone, which went into sleep mode, when its purpose was fulfilled.

"It seems that existence itself is changing again, with the fruits of my labour." DW remarked, as he smiled faintly, looking around. "After spending centuries upon centuries to create all of this, and set all these events into motion... Every moment I have dedicated... Every single moment was worth it. To watch my own success."

DW then turned back to the large console, specifically the monitor, looking up at the large one above him. "Time for you to wake up, sleeping princess, you have been put on standby mode for long enough already." DW stated. "Initiate Reveille Protocol. Authorisation Code: 9572-RGHS."

There was a moment of silence, before the entire console began to create a massive whirring sound, akin the sound of a computer handling a extremely straining task, before a window appeared on the screen, as it was blank for a few moments with a black background, before lines of white code flashed through it, as a speed that no human could read at, before the window then changed into a display showing a familiar face, which seemed to be a bit static-like and was entirely blue with white outlines, but it was easy to recognise who it was, as it was a girl with fox-like ears, with short hair that seemed to be styled like Richard's own, save for the way that it was styled messily, making it look a little ruffled. She then slowly opened her eyes.

"Mmmh... It seems that you require my assistance once again." The computerised being spoke in a digitalised female voice, that sound young, but was also fairly stoic. "To start, it has been 7 days, 13 hours, 12 minutes, and 16 seconds, at the time of this announcement, since you have placed me in standby. I assume that the Unmei Force have completed their duty here?"

"Hewie." DW stated with a smile on his lips. "It always pleases me to see your face, even if you're just an AI. Well, I guess we're both that, but then again... You know how I came to be. Yes, the Unmei Force has came and left successful. I reactivated you, since Richard won't be there to see a face that he'd recognise immediately."

"I understand. The possibility that my appearance would have raised questions, ones that would making you suspicious of you." Hewie stated. "From the recent catalogue of the conversation between the two of you, it would have been dire, if that was to happen during that time. Deactivating me temporarily is the most logical solution, as the digitised being known as Erika Mishima would have noticed my presence in the network."

"Yeah... She's a real tricky one. She would have been one hell of a digital protector, or even a digital goddess of some sort." DW responded back. "But we shouldn't discuss such things. I do believe that it is time that we initiate one of our main projects, now that the conditions have been met. If you would have the honours..."

"Creator, as much as I am ready to proceed with the final phases of the project in question, I have also noticed that the Dimensional-Wanderer Homunculi prototypes have been critically damaged from the confrontation with Richard Liu and Gus Campbell." Hewie stated. "It needs not to be stated what must be done before I can act on my part."

"Oh... right. Yeah, sort of forgot about that for a moment." DW answered back. "Hewie... If you would..."

"Affirmative. Deploying recovery drones." Hewie confirmed, before hatches beside the consoles opened, to reveal much more bulkier aerial drones, which were packed with spools of durable rope-like bindings, which could be seen on top of their body, as they flew up out of the elevator shaft. After a few moments, the charred androids were brought back, as they was placed down on the ground, in front of the AI and the hologram. The first drone then reactivated itself, before it then pulled out a scanning device, as it scanned the bodies of the two disabled androids with lines of green light washing across their bodies, before the drone then moved to the console, and exposed a connection wire that linked it to the console, as the results of the scans were given to both DW and Hewie.

"Oh my... I may have not exactly watched the battle itself, but I'm surprised that they were able to do this much to them." DW remarked with surprise in his voice. "This Phoenix Crash... Heh, I recall the days when this move wasn't so outdated, and how it was considered to be a trump card. Seeing that the two of them have practised it well already... It actually makes me want to shed a tear in pride for them."

"You do know that you are unable to portray that kind of emotion, as you are now, Creator?" Hewie answered back bluntly."

"Yeah, yeah I know." DW sighed, as he frowned. "I'm not exactly one to talk about emotions... After all, I'm an hologram with a almost human programming for myself, and emotions are too complex to be done using mere code itself. Even with all of our tech, what makes a human a human, the soul, the emotions, the hubris... It's impossible to perfectly replicate them."

"Should we start repairs on them?" Hewie asked back.

"Of course. Luckily, this kind of damage, although it's severe, to the point that internal components have been destroyed or corroded by the sheer heat of the flames, we have what it takes to repair them and get them back to full functionality once again." DW answered back with a nod. "Not to mention that this would be an opportune time to update their programming, and complete the project. Hewie, do final-checks on the program, and use the newly-acquired values and components to finish it up. I'm sure that our dear friends have provided us the means to finish this."

"Understood." Hewie answered back. "I will now have them transported into the repair facilities to conduct the repairs required."

"Do so." DW answered back, as the recovery drones picked up the androids once again, before they lifted them up the elevator shaft. "The sooner we get this completed... the better."

* * *

_A few weeks later, inside the repair facility..._

DW looked at the inactive forms of his androids were laid down on two separate beds, as their bodies were covered by light-blue medical tarps, leaving only their heads exposed. He seemed to be fairly happy, as there was a smile on his lips, and beside the holographic projector that contained him, was a monitor that had Hewie on the screen.

"The repairs are done, and the program has been successfully installed in them." Hewie answered back. "If we were to activate them, they should be able to function with everything that had been implemented on them."

"Heh, aren't we a good father and mother, Hewie...?" DW asked back, as he seemed to be more giddy than before. "We're about to witness the true birth of our sons, the ones that will carry our legacy in this reality, in this timeline... Machine and magic instead of true life, they may be, they are still living beings, a fairly unique kind, and they'll create something that will linger in this timeline as an influence."

"Indeed." Hewie responded back, as she smiled a little. "I may not be as emotionally able as you are, DW, but I can still feel pride and joy at our creations, which we have devoted so long to create in our image, and for the sake of everyone that has passed us by."

"Yeah... For them indeed." DW trailed off, with a fairly solemn tone. "At least with this... There will be no doubt that our impact on this reality will ever fade, not unless the very gods of the reality themselves rebelled against our actions."

"...Should we activate them?" Hewie asked DW gently.

"The suspense is killing me, or at least metaphorically, since I'm just a digital construct now..." DW responded back. "Begin the process, but only for R-X058. It's not time for S-X625 to be active yet. After all... Considering who he is based off... He will be a fair bit impulsive, especially when he was just reformatted like his partner."

"I understand. Starting boot-up sequence." Hewie answered back, before the eyes of the Richard android flickered open, as they glowed green for a while.

After a while, the green glow from the eyes changed, as they faded away, before his eyes blinked a few times. They then flickered around, looking at the entire room itself, before he then turned his eyes to DW and Hewie, who were silently watching him.

"Father? Mother?" The android spoke, as his voice sounded much more emotional and human, as it conveyed curiosity and surprise.

"So you have finally woken up, my dear son..." DW smiled warmly. "I suppose that you have a fair lot of questions running through that head of yours, which we have changed up, don't you?"

"...Yes, father. I feel so much different. I feel that both inside and outside, I feel that there are parts of me that remain familiar and unchanged, but the sensations of what has been changed drastically... It brings about a sense of curiosity within me..." The Richard android answered back, before it then looked up the ceiling. "Curiosity... So this is what it feels like... I can feel, I can think with a humane mind-set... Father, Mother... Is this what true sentience feels like?"

"As close as you can get, kid." DW smirked back. "You've got a soul now, and your mind is now self-learning and self-concluding. But that's not the only thing that has been changed. Get up, and see for yourself."

"Yes, father." The android responded back, before he then exited the bed slowly, before he then looked at himself. No longer was he inside a suit of futuristic armour, but instead a light-coloured patient gown, as his figure remained mostly the same, although he can actually see his own skin. "My battle chassis... Did you make it into a separate piece of armament for myself?"

"Indeed I have. Now that you're not a mere android anymore, I can't have you walking around places with that intimidating suit of armour. You can easily re-summon it with a mere thought, so it's not that much of a problem." DW responded back. "Now then, is there anything I would have to answer from you? After all, you're not going to have much from me, once you and your companion leaves our little nest."

"That's exactly what presses me the most in my newly-formed mind." The android answered back, with a solemn expression on his face. "I have read the directives that I have been tasked with. My first question regards the first directive, that I am to leave this facility, and wander the worlds. It does not seem reasonable or logical to do such a thing, when there are many advantages of using this place as a home for ourselves. Why must we leave? Is it because there is a reason that I have yet to understand."

"Because you cannot remain here. There are dangers that you can understand, but ones that we cannot risk encountering." DW responded back. "I wiped the memories of this place from your mental databases, to ensure that neither of you would be able to endanger this place, should you be captured and drained clean for information regarding your origins. You will only remember me, Hewie, and your directives, regarding what has went on here. Same goes for your partner."

"I see... Then the second directive... To ensure our own survival, by creating a faction of artificial beings, to be a safe haven for all types of said classification." The android continued its questioning. "With everything that I have taught through information transfer, such a faction would be extremely difficult to achieve, and a goal that is extremely not recommended to proceed upon. Are you sure that this is the only way that we can ensure our survival?"

"Sadly, yes. We could just turtle up in here, but we'll eventually be eroded by rampancy and digital degradation. It would be akin to a death of old age for all of us. We didn't create you to prove that it was possible to create a artificial being that can be almost perfectly sentient with its own soul, using magic and technology." DW answered back grimly. "We created you, so that there is a hope that we can continue to survive on. And what better way than to pioneer a civilisation? It may only last for several millennia, but that would be enough to secure our survival with astronomically little risk of failure. That is the purpose of Project Anima, to create beings that are capable to lead civilisations with the same boons as the organic leaders, through personality, thought and spirit."

"I can understand that." The android responded back. "Finally, there is the third directive: To create more DWH models, using our own first-gen system to bring about the existence of said models. I only ask, since I am merely a offshoot of the great data-banks and codings that you are composed of, Father and Mother... Is this all possible?"

"The only reason Project Anima stalled, is because we didn't have sufficient data and catalysts to proceed with the final step: Soul forming." DW responded back. "Now that your souls have been created, you can use parts of that to bypass that road-block. The rest should be simple, since you are equipped with sufficient knowledge and experience to do the rest of the steps unaided by us. That way, you can expand your numbers, even though only slowly, so that you will be able to ensure that you will have company for your quest to carry out your directives. After all, you can't spend all this time being buddy-buddy with only the pal beside you. You just need to follow the templates I have left for you, and you'll have friends like I originally did."

"I see. Then I have no more questions. Although now that I am capable of emotion... I feel truly sad that I have to leave your embrace, Father. When I was first created, you have treated me like a proper child, even though I was merely a barely-sentient machine at that time, and you have spent almost your entire life in perfecting the two of us." The android spoke, as it tried to keep its tone calm, although the grief in it was evident. "And now, when you've achieved your goal... We can't even stay together for long, because doing so would endanger all of us. I feel in grief, Father... Mother... And I don't know how to deal with that."

"Then just remember that you will always be our son, no matter who are you, what you become, and where you are." DW assured the android. "And never forget that we will never be truly gone. We will still exist, and there will be a time when we will finally meet again. But that time won't come yet... Not until you've reached your own goals. So don't despair, and don't mourn us, we'll be watching, from where nobody would expect. Now go... Go and live the life that you have been both bestowed. You are no longer mere letters and numbers as R-X058 and S-X625, but you are brothers by title, as Rex and Six Palmarius."

"...Father... No, Dimensional Wanderer..." The now-name Rex responded back, moved by his creator's words, before his expression turned determined, before he then crossed one arm over his chest. "I swear that you efforts will not be in vain. Everything you have done, everything you have taught us, we will use it all to ensure that the civilisation you have envisioned will come to existence. That I swear upon, with my own newly-formed soul as the stake for this."

"Then you are ready. There will be a ship above-ground, through a hidden-passage. It will take you to what I would consider to be the most optimal place to start your ambition." DW responded back. "I wish you the best of luck, my sons."

"Thank you..." Rex stated, before he then picked up the still-inactive Six in his arms, as he was able to easily carry the bulky android in his arms. "See you within a few centuries... Father."

He then left the room, carrying his companion, as DW and Hewie then left the room themselves, as the holographic projector moved out of the room, while Hewie disappeared from the monitor in the room.

* * *

_Inside the main control room..._

The holographic projector then reconnected with the large console in the room, as Hewie reappeared on the console screen inside a digital window.

"Have they left yet?" DW asked Hewie, who then showed the outside feed, as they saw a transport spaceship ascend from the ground, before it then shot off into space. "I see... Always direct to the point as always, Hewie."

"I always do my best to serve." Hewie answered back. "It makes me proud, to see that our own children are independent already."

"Well, we better hope that they don't turn out to be bad eggs, like delinquents and sociopaths." DW stated, before he then laughed. "Oh, who am I kidding! Of course they're not going to end up like that! With how Rex is like me, I doubt that there would be that kind of problem!"

"Of course, we raised these children from birth with all of our support." Hewie smiled back. "I've also finished making the final preparations. I suppose that this will be the final moments that we will be activated for, until it is at least a few centuries later?"

"Indeed. We can only make one final act upon this reality, before we dimension-shift into a realm of void, where no-one can track or find us, unless they know the proper dimension-shift parameters, as well as the means to even start doing that..." DW answered back. "Fortunately, Rex has the former and Six has the latter in their heads, only to be unlocked once their directives are confirmed complete to a reasonable extent, i.e their civilisation will become self-sustaining and powerful enough to handle extra-dimensional threats and threats in this reality as well."

"I have hope that they'll succeed." Hewie stated. "And that is a certainty."

"Of course they will, after all... They're moulded from the greatest heroes of our timeline..." DW answered back. "Hewie... Before we activate complete hibernation of all systems... Mind if you do me one last thing? Show me the photo that we took decades before the time leap, will you?"

Hewie complied, as she then showed a photo, that showed all of the Unmei Force members, who seemed to look like that they have been aged up a fair lot, as well as many other people that were beside them, including several familiar people that were there, as the famous heroes of this reality.

"If only you kept that body of yours..." Hewie pondered. "You would have been actually able to do more, so that there will be less that our children can do..."

"Yeah... The price for this time leap, was my own body." DW responded back with a sigh. "It's a fair price to pay, considering that we were jumping centuries back, something that took a lot of power and super-advanced technology to pull off. Even then, I could only sent a holographic AI counterpart of myself here. But it done the job regardless... At least this time... Richard will be able to do the right thing, now that he learns the truth before it was too late."

"I'm sure that he will know what to do. After all, he is you in the past, isn't he? And this would have prevented a time paradox, since you and him meeting could wreak havoc on the time-space continuum, and that would attract the wrath of a few dangerous individuals." Hewie stated. "Anyway, I have the process at the ready. Are you prepared."

"As much as I will be... Richard... Rex... I hope that the both of you will see the paths that you have chosen right to the end." DW answered back, with a smile on his lips. "Hewie... It's time. Activate Protocol: Return to Zero."

"Understood, Protocol is underway. All systems are shutting down as we speak, and the portal to the void between realities has been activated. Countermeasures have already been prepared for our trip." Hewie reported, as the room itself was beginning to slowly power down, lights and systems all. "Good night, Richard. You have done enough in this era. The only thing left to do right now, is to let the next generation make their impact."

"Same here... I hope that you'll wake up nice and fresh... After all... With this... there will be new hope for all of us... And your past counterpart... Heiwa... She will be able to stay by past me's side this time, unlike the tragedy that tore us apart." DW stated, before he then watched as the main console powered down with Hewie inside of it. "Sleep well, Hewie... Even though we may be artificial minds... May we have peaceful dreams of a brighter future."

And then, the holographic projector powered down, leaving the entire room in complete darkness.

* * *

_Inside the transport_ space-ship...

Rex already let the auto-pilot implemented inside the ship do its job, as he was watching over Six, who will still not activated, as he was waiting patiently for the moment that he would awaken. Soon, Six's eyes opened and flashed green like Rex's, causing Rex to smile, as Six slowly booted himself up, and got used to his body.

"...I feel different." Six stated, before he turned to Rex. "You're... Your name is Rex now, is it?"

"That's right." Rex responded back with a firm nod. "And you're Six. Father named us after our designation numbers."

"Father..." Six stated, his words trailing off. "He's gone into deep sleep with Mother, hasn't he?"

"That's what happened. I suppose that they predicted that these events would have happened." Rex answered back. "I asked him the important questions, and he has answered them clearly. All you need to do, is to wake up and help me. You're my brother now. Well, sworn brother, since we're not related in blood, but rather in same brand and same creation date."

"Like the brothers of the Peach Garden Oath." Six mused, before he then chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Rex stated. "I looked outside. They've made a trip to the void, to ensure that they will never be found, until we accomplished our goals."

"The goals... I suppose that we both understand what is supposed to be done." Six answered, before he then got up, as he found himself in the patient gown, and then looked at Rex, who seemed to have not changed yet. "Could we change our clothes, this thing doesn't exactly fit my style."

"Yeah, I suppose." Rex stated, rolling his eyes with a amused grin on his face. "But before we go and do that, we're going to need to decide a name for the little utopia that we're going to create together?"

"Oh my god, this is going to end up like the Romulus and Remus dilemma, isn't it?" Six asked, before he then turned away. "Fuck that. You go and decide, I trust you enough that you've got a good idea in mind. I'm not exactly better than you when it comes to naming right now."

"Hm... Alright then..." Rex stated. "How about... the paradise of artificial beings and homunculus... **Exodus Nine**?"


End file.
